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WONDERS  OF  ART  AND  ARCHEOLOGY 


WONDERS 


EUROPEAN    ART 


BY 

LOUIS  VIARDOT 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 
1885 


Vf 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  SPANISH  SCHOOLS. 

PAGt 

EARLY  SCHOOLS  OF  ABT  IN  SPADT 1 

SCHOOL  or  VALENTIA.-— Juan  Joanes — The  Ribaltas-r- 

Ribera 7 

ANDALUSIAN  SCHOOL. — Pablo  de  Cespedes— Alonzo  Ca- 
no— Louis  de  Vargas — Juan  de  las  Koelas — Herre- 
ra — Pacheco — Zubaran — Murillo 19 

CASTILIAN  SCHOOL. — Berruguete — El  Mude — Theotoco- 
puli — Coello— Pantoja  de  la  Cruz — Carducho— Ve- 
lazquez— Pareja — Goya 46 

\ 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE  GERMAN  SCHOOL. 

EARLY  MASTERS.  — Holbein — Cran  ach — Wohlgemuth — 
Albert  D urer — Denner — Dietrich— Mengs  — Angeli- 
ca Kauffmann — Remarks  on  the  Rivival  of  Art  in 
Germany  at  the  Commencement  of  the  present- 
Century  81 

CHAPTER    in. 

SCHOOLS  OF  THE  Low  COUNTRIES. 

Impossibility  of  making  a  formal  Division  between  these 
Schools 119 

FLEMISH  SCHOOL. — Hubert  and  Jan  Van  Eyck— Mem- 
ling — Matsys —  Mabuse —  Rubens — Jordaens —  Van 
Dyck — Teniers — Breughel — Philippe  de  Champagne 
—Van  der  Meulen  . .  122 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

DUTCH  SCHOOL. — Honthorst — Kembrandt— Van  der 
Heist — Cuyp —  Berghem —  Dujardin —  Ostade —  Ge- 
rard Dow — Terburg — Metzu — Mieris — Netscher — 
Slingelandt — Wouvermans — Jan  Steen — Peter  Neefa 
— Steen  wick — De  Hoogh — Van  der  Meer — Van  der 
Heyden — Paul  Potter — Hondekoeter — Fyt — Wee- 
nix — Bril — Both — Wynants — Van  Goyen — Ruysda- 
el — Hobbema — Decker — Adrian  Van  de  Velde — Van 
der  Neer — Backhuysen — William  Van  de  Velde — 
Van  Huysum — Kachel  Kuysch — Kalf — Van  der 
Werff 181 

CHAPTER    IV. 

FBENCH  SCHOOL. 

Clouet — Cousin —  Dubreuil —  Freminet —  Vouet —  Callot 
A-Poussin — Claud e  Lorraine — Valentin — Bourdon 
— Lesueur — Lebrun — Santerre —  Mignard —  Rigaud 
— Watteau — Van  Loo — Desportes — Oudry — Cliardin 
— Claude  Vernet— Greuse — Vien — David —  Drouais 
—  Troison  —  Guerin  —  Letliiere  —  Gerard  —  Gros —  ' 
Prud'hon — Gericaul4>  — Robert  — Granet — Ingres  — 
Ary  Scheffer — Delacroix-^Horace  Vernet — Dela- 
roclie — Decamps — Conclusion 254 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


ST.  ELIZABETH  OF  HUNGARY Murillo 37 

THE  DRINKERS Velazquez 67 

THE  FOUR  EVANGELISTS Albrecht  Durer 97 

THE  DESCENT  FROM  THE  CROSS  . .   Rubens , 149 

SETTING  THE  NIGHT  WATCH Rembrandt 195 

THE  ARCADIAN  SHEPHERDS Nicholas  Poussin . .  271 

THE  KIVER  FORD Claude  Lorraine  . . .  275 

THE  SABINES Louis  David 305 

JUSTICE  AND  VENGEANCE P.  Prud'hon 313 

THE  HAFT  OF  THE  MEDUSA Theodore  Gericault.  319 

STBATONICE Ingres ,  325 


NOTE. 

This  volume  is  a  translation  of  the  second 
series  of  the  Merveilles  de  la  Peinture,  by  M.  Vi- 
ARDor,  the  first  part  of  which  was  published 
last  year,  under  the  title  of  '  Wonders  of  Italian 
Art/  and  received  with  much  approval. 

It  embraces  notices  of  the  Spanish,  German, 
Flemish,  Dutch,  and  French  Schools,  in  which 
M.  Viardot  has  critically  examined  into  the  merits  of 
many  thousands  of  the  most  celebrated  paintings. 


AVONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SPANISH   SCHOOLS. 

IN  following  historically  the  progress  of  the  dif- 
ferent schools  of  painting,  it  is  to  the  eternal  glory 
of  Italy  that  she  appears  as  the  mother,  or  at  all 
events  as  the  instructress,  of  all  the  others.  Although 
it  is  true  that  art  sprang  into  life  at  the  same  time 
in  different  countries,  in  Germany,  Flanders,  and 
Spain,  as  well  as  in  Italy,  yet  here  alone  did  it  pass 
much  beyond  the  period  of  infancy,  unaided.  It 
was  in  Italy  that  art  grew  to  maturity  without  bor- 
rowing from  any,  except  in  its  very  early  days  from 
the  Byzantines.  Other  nations,  inheriting  through 
the  lessons  of  their  common  masters  a  science 
already  mature,  attained,  as  it  were  at  a  bound, 
whatever  perfection  they  were  destined  to  reach. 
Wv  can  hardly  ever  find  in  them  either  discovery, 
experiments,  or  progress ;  we  see  no  difference 
separating  one  age  from  another,  but  merely  that 
between  individual  men.  There  has  never  been  in 
Spain,  any  more  than  in  France,  a  Cimabue,  a  Giotto 
a  Fra  Angelico,  or  an  Antonello  da  Messina,  and  the 


'£•  ;  ;  ,'-•;  '•,•'  '; :  "WP.NDESF  OF  PAINTING. 

history  of  Spanish  art,  which  was  the  work  almost 
of  a  single  generation,  without  ancestors  or  descend- 
ants, may  be  entirely  comprised  within  the  short 
period  of  a  century  and  a  half. 

In  Spain,  as  in  Italy  and  ancient  Greece,  the  art 
of  architecture  preceded  the  others.  Before  the 
close  of  the  Middle  Ages  the  cathedrals  of  Leon,  St. 
Jago,  Tarragona,  Burgos,  and  Toledo  had  arisen, 
besides  the  mosques  of  Cordova  and  Seville,  con- 
verted into  Christian  churches  after  the  conquest 
of  Granada.  Sculpture,  which,  as  it  furnishes  the 
necessary  ornaments  to  architecture,  is  nearly  always 
its  accompaniment,  was  signalized  from  the  four- 
teenth century  by  interesting  attempts  of  native  ar- 
tists. A  century  later,  Diego  de  Siloe,  Alonzo  Ber- 
ruguete,  Gaspar  Becerra,  and  several  others,  went 
to  Italy  and  brought  back  to  their  own  country  a 
knowledge  of  that  art  which  the  Italians  had  learned 
from  ancient  statuary.  But  the  school  of  painting 
was  formed  later,  and  from  its  very  commencement 
was  initiated  from  others.  It  was  about  the  year 
1418,  three  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  Florentine, 
Gherardo  Stamina,  in  Castile,  that  we  find  the  first 
traces  of  what  may  be  termed  the  art  of  painting. 
JUAN  ALFON  then  painted  the  altar-screens  of  the  old 
chapel  del  Sagrario,  also  those  in  the  chapel  of  los 
Reyes  nuevos  in  the  cathedral  of  Toledo.  A  few 
years  later,  during  the  reign  of  John  II.,  there  came 
from  Florence  a  certain  Dello,  and  from  Flanders 
the  maestro  Eogel  (Roger,  no  doubt),  who  continued 
in  Spain  that  artistic  intercourse  with  other  coun- 
tries which  is  especially  useful,  because  art,  unlike 


SPANISH   SCHOOLS.  3 

literature,  is  bound  by  no  shackles  of  difference  of 
idiom,  and  therefore  forms  a  more  intimate  and 
fraternal  bond  of  union  between  nations  than  litera- 
ture can  ever  do,  and  unites  into  a  single  family  ah1 
those  who  cultivate  it.  About  the  year  1450,  JUAN 
SANCHEZ  DE  CASTRO  founded  the  earliest  school  of 
Seville,  from  which  was  to  emerge  the  greatest 
names  of  Spanish  painting ;  and  five  years  later, 
admiration  was  excited  in  Castile  by  the  purer  forms 
and  the  higher  style  shown  in  the  large  altar-screen 
of  the  hospital  of  Buitrago  by  the  maestro  Jorge 
Ingles,  who,  from  the  fact  that  his  Christian  name 
was  still  uncommon  in  Spain,  and  also  from  his  sur- 
name, is  supposed  to  have  been  an  Englishman.  At 
the  close  of  the  century,  when  Christopher  Columbus 
was  starting  to  discover  another  world,  ANTONIO  DEL 
KINCON,  the  painter  of  the  Catholic  kings  (he  is  sup- 
posed to  have  studied  at  Florence  under  Andrea  del 
Castagno  and  Ghirlandajo),  PEDRO  BERRUGUETE, 
father  of  the  great  sculptor  Alonzo,  INIGO  DE  CO- 
MOTES  and  several  others,  stimulated  by  the  example 
of  the  foreigner,  John  of  Burgundy,  began  to  adorn 
the  walls  of  the  Cathedral  of  Toledo  with  their 
works,  whilst  GALLEGOS,  at  Salamanca,  imitated 
Albert  Diirer  without  having  either  studied  or 
known  him. 

But  these  attempts  only  became  an  art  when  com- 
merce and  war  had  opened  constant  communica- 
tions between  Italy  and  Spain.  "When  Charles  V. 
united  the  two  peninsulas  under  the  same  govern- 
ment, and  founded  the  vast  empire  which  extended 
from  Naples  to  Antwerp,  Italy  had  just  attained  the 


4  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

zenith  of  her  glory  and  splendor.  Leonardo  da 
Vinci,  Michael  Angelo,  Titian,  Kaphael,  and  Cor- 
reggio  had  produced  their  incomparable  master- 
pieces. On  the  other  hand,  the  capture  of  Grana- 
da, the  discovery  of  America,  and  the  enterprises  of 
Charles  V.  had  just  aroused  in  Spain  that  intellect- 
ual movement  which  follows  material  commotions 
and  impels  a  nation  into  a  career  of  conquests  of 
every  kind.  At  the  first  news  of  the  treasures  to  be 
found  in  Italy — in  the  studios  of  the  artists,  the 
palaces  of  the  great,  and  in  the  churches — all  the 
Spaniards  interested  in  art,  either  as  their  profes- 
sion or  from  love  to  it  for  its  own  sake,  flocked  to 
the  country  of  so  many  marvels,  richer  in  their  eyes 
than  Peru  or  Mexico,  where  numbers  of  adventur- 
ers were  then  hastening,  eager  to  acquire  more  ma- 
terial riches. 

Only  choosing  the  most  illustrious,  and  those 
merely  who  distinguished  themselves  in  painting,  we 
find  among  those  who  left  Castile  for  Italy,  Alonzo 
Berruguete,  Gaspar  Becerra,  Navarrete  el  Mudo  ; 
from  Valencia,  Juan  Joanes  and  Francisco  Bibal- 
ta ;  from  Seville,  Luis  de  Vargas ;  from  Cordova, 
the  learned  Pablo  de  Cespedes.  All  these  eminent 
men  brought  back  to  their  owrn  country  the  taste  for 
and  knowledge  of  an  art  which  they  had  studied  un- 
der Italian  masters.  At  the  same  time,  foreign  ar- 
tists, attracted  to  Spain  by  the  bounty  of  its  kings, 
prelates,  and  nobles,  came  to  complete  the  work  be- 
gun by  the  Spaniards  who  had  studied  abroad- 
Whilst  at  Burgos,  Philip  of  Burgundy,  and  at  Gra- 
nada, Torregiani,  the  illustrious  and  unfortunate 


SPANISH   SCHOOLS.  5 

rival  of  Michael  Angelo,  as  well  as  other  sculptors, 
decorated  the  basilicas  and  royal  sepulchres  with 
their  works ;  painters  in  great  numbers  settled  in 
the  principal  cities.  At  Seville,  the  Fleming,  Peter 
of  Champagne,  who  was  called  Pedro  Campana ;  at 
Toledo,  Isaac  de  Helle  and  el  Greco  (Domenico 
Theotocopuli);  at  Madrid,  Antonio  More  of  Utrecht, 
Patricio  Cajesi,  Castello  el  Bergamasco,  Antonio 
Bizi,  Bartolommeo  Carducci,  and  his  young  brother 
Vincenzo. 

This  intercourse  with  foreign  countries  had,  if  we 
may  use  such  an  expression,  imported  art  into  Spain. 
Schools  were  formed.  At  first  timid  and  humble 
imitators  of  their  Italian  masters,  by  degrees  they 
became  bolder  and  freer ;  they  emancipated  them- 
selves from  their  servitude,  asserted  their  national- 
ity, and  showing  both  the  good  and  the  bad  quali- 
ties of  their  country,  attained  at  length  to  indepen- 
dence and  originality  of  style,  and  then  to  boldness 
and  fire,  perhaps  even  beyond  reasonable  limits. 
This  was  almost  the  same  course  that  art  had  fol- 
lowed in  Italy,  passing  from  the  Florentine-Boman 
school — form — to  the  Venetian — color — then  to  the 
Bolognese — effect,  imitation,  and  a  mixture  of  the 
others. 

Four  principal  schools  were  formed  in  Spain,  not 
successively,  as  those  in  Italy,  but  almost  simultan- 
eously. These  were  the  schools  of  Valencia,  Toledo, 
Seville,  and  Madrid.  But  the  two  first  were  soon 
merged  into  the  others.  The  school  of  Valencia, 
which  had  been  founded  by  Juan  Joanes,  and  ren- 
dered famous  by  Bibera  and  the  Bibaltas,  was  united 


6  WONDEKS   OF  PAINTING. 

like  the  smaller  schools  of  Cordova,  Granada,  and 
Murcia,  to  the  parent  school  of  Seville,  whilst  that 
of  Toledo,  as  well  as  the  local  schools  of  Badajoz, 
Saragossa,  and  Valladolid  were  merged  in  the  school 
of  Madrid,  when  that  country  town  had  become  the 
capital  of  the  monarchy  through  the  will  of  Philip 
II.,  and  had  carried  off  all  supremacy  from  the  an- 
cient capital  of  the  Goth. 

There  remained,  then,  Seville  and  Madrid,  Anda- 
lusia and  Castile.  "With  Luis  de  Vargas,  Villegas 
de  Marmolejo,  and  Pedro  Campana,  all  pupils  of 
Italy,  the  brilliancy  of  the  school  of  Seville  begins, 
which  was  afterwards  carried  to  greater  perfection 
through  the  example  of  the  Yalencian,  Juan  Joanes. 
It  increased,  rose,  and  became  Spanish  with  Juan 
de  las  Koelas,  the  Castillos,  Herrera  el  Yiejo,  Pache- 
co  and  Pedro  de  Moya,  who  brought  to  it  from 
London  the  lessons  of  Van  Dyck  ;  at  last  it  attained 
its  maturity  and  produced  the  masterpieces  of 
Spanish  art  under  Velazquez,  who  left  Seville  for 
Madrid  as  Kibera  had  left  Valencia  for  Naples, 
Alonzo  Cano,  Zurbaran,  and,  lastly,  Murillo,  who 
carried  it  to  its  greatest  beauty,  but  who  left  behind 
him  only  feeble  copyists,  without  pupils  or  followers. 
At  Madrid  the  school  passed  through  the  same 
phases.  Berruguete  and  Becerra,  rather  sculptors 
than  painters ;  then  Navarrete  el  Mudo,  a  true 
painter,  all  three  disciples  of  Italy,  and  assisted  by 
the  Fleming,  Antonio  More ;  then  the  families  of 
Castello,  Rizi,  and  Carducci,  all  Italian  by  birth, 
who  formed  Sanchez  Coello,  Pantoja  de  la  Cruz, 
Bereda,  Collantes,  all  assisted  to  found  and  render 


SCHOOL  OF  VALENCIA.  7 

illustrious  the  school  of  Castile,  to  which  the  great 
Velazquez  had  just  united  the  school  of  Andalusia. 
From  the  union  of  these  schools  was  formed  Pareja 
and  Carreno,  who,  while  living  at  Madrid,  appear 
still  to  belong  to  Seville.  Claudio  CoeDo,  the  last  of 
these  generations  of  artists,  died  at  the  time  when 
Luca  Giordano  arrived  in  Spain,  and  with  him  per- 
ished the  whole  race.  Afterwards,  at  the  latter  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  we  only  find  one  other 
striking  personality ;  and  he,  though  powerful,  is 
singular  and  fantastic,  without  master  and  without; 
pupils,  Francisco  Goya. 

SCHOOL   OF  VALENCIA. 

It  is  only  right  that  this  school  should  be  men- 
tioned before  those  of  Andalusia  and  Castile,  for  it; 
was  especially  through  it  that  the  lessons  of  Italy 
came  to  Spain.  Their  common  imitator  was  the 
Valencian  JU^N  JOANES  (1523-1579),  whose  real) 
name  was  Vincente  Juan  Macip.  It  is  supposed 
that  when  he  was  studying  at  Home  he  took  a  fancy, 
then  pretty  common,  to  latinize  one  of  his  names, 
and  to  make  it  his  painter's  surname  ;  from  that, 
through  habit  and  corruption,  came  the  name  given 
him  by  his  compatriots.  Of  this  generation  of 
Spanish  artists,  formed  by  contact  with  the  Italians, 
the  first  is  Joanes,  and  the  last  Murillo.  We  see 
from  this,  how  important  are  the  works  of  Joanes, 
which  are  very  rare,  except  in  Madrid.  They  are 
all  entitled  on  this  account  to  attention  and  respect. 
In  the  Museo  del  Rey,  we  may  distinguish  one  of 
Christ  bearing  the  Cross,  which  is  an  evident,  though 


8  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

not  servile,  imitation  of  Raphael's  Spasimo  ;  a  Mar- 
tyrdom of  St.  Agnes,  which  not  even  that  by  Dome- 
nichino  must  make  us  forget ;  an  enormous  Last 
Supper,  which  would  have  been  called  an  admirable 
work  but  for  Leonardo  da  Vinci  having  chosen  the 
same  subject ;  and  lastly,  a  series  of  six  pictures  re- 
lating, like  the  cantos  of  a  poem,  the  Life  of  St. 
Stephen,  a  capital  work. 

At  the  first  glance,  we  may  recognize  in  Joanes  a 
direct  pupil  of  the  Roman  school.  Nevertheless,  he 
did  not  study  under  Raphael,  as  he  was  born  in 
1523,  and  Raphael  died  in  1520 ;  but  he  studied 
before  his  works  and  under  his  immediate  disciples, 
such  as  Giulio  Romano,  il  Fattore,  or  Perino  del 
Vaga.  Palomino  in  his  Parnaso  Espanol  Pintoreseo, 
declares  that  Joanes  is  equal  to  Raphael  in  some 
parts  and  superior  to  him  in  others.  This  is  sheer 
blasphemy.  The  Diccionario  Historico  confines  itself 
to  asserting  that  before  the  best  works  of  Joanes 
one  might  well  hesitate,  and  scarcely  know  whether 
they  were  to  be  attributed  to  the  master  or  pupil, 
and  that  if  it  were  not  known  that  one  of  the  two 
was  an  imitator,  one  might  be  embarrassed  to  say  to 
which  of  the  two  artists  the  palm  was  to  be  awarded. 
This  eulogy  also  surpasses  all  bounds  of  truth.  But 
we  may  say  that  Joanes  possesses  the  purity  of 
design,  the  beauty  of  form,  and  the  power  of  expres- 
sion which  distinguish  the  Roman  school  personified 
in  its  chief.  His  perspective  is  exact  and  scientific, 
although  rather  short,  and  if  his  coloring  has  not  the 
Venetian  ease  or  Andalusian  fire,  it  is  yet  warm  and 
bright,  and  he  possesses  great  firmness  of  touch. 


SCHOOL   OF  VALENCIA.  9 

Notwithstanding  his  importance  as  the  leader  of 
this  school,  and  his  merit  as  an  artist,  Juan  Joanes 
is  still  almost  unknown  out  of  Spain,  and  is  not  very 
popular  even  there.  The  reason  of  this  is,  that 
being  of  an  almost  ascetic  piety,  and  preparing  him- 
self for  the  execution  of  every  picture — of  those  pic- 
tures which  were  to  be  admired  and  worshipped  in 
the  churches — by  taking  the  sacrament,  Joanes 
lived  as  a  hermit,  far  from  the  crowd  and  the  Court. 
He  did  not  paint  royal  features,  and  hired  poets  did 
not  make  sonnets  in  his  praise  ;  during  his  lifetime 
his  works  never  crossed  the  seas  or  the  Pyrenees 
addressed  to  foreign  princes,  as  a  sort  of  petition ; 
and,  since  his  death,  they  have  not  loaded  the 
wagons  of  conquering  generals. 

After  Joanes,  there  appeared  at  Valencia  two 
painters,  father  and  son,  so  alike  in  style  and  man- 
ner that  it  was  said  indifferently  of  their  works  : 
"  It  is  by  the  EIBALTAS  "  (es  de  los  Ribidtas).  How- 
ever, FRANCISCO,  the  father  of  JUAN,  has  left  the 
greater  number  of  works,  because  he  lived  seventy 
years  and  his  son  only  thirty-one.  They  both  died 
in  1628.  In  the  Museum  at  Madrid  may  be  found 
the  Four  Evangelists,  a  Dead  Christ,  sustained  by 
angels,  and  a  St.  Francis  of  Assist,  whom  an  angel  is 
consoling  and  filling  with  holy  ecstasy  by  playing 
on  his  celestial  lute  ;  but  it  is  not  specified  to  which 
of  the  two  these  comp  si tijns  belong.  The  Eibal- 
tas  bring  us  down  to  RIBEHA  (1588-1656),  who  was, 
when  quite  young,  the  pupil  of -the  one  and  the 
fellow-student  of  the  other. 

It  is  said  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 


10  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

century  a  cardinal,  passing  through  the  streets  of 
Borne  in  his  carriage,  perceived  a  young  man, 
scarcely  beyond  childhood,  who,  although  clothed 
in  miserable  rags,  and  having  by  his  side  some 
crusts  of  bread  given  him  out  of  charity,  was  yet 
occupied  with  profound  attention  in  drawing  the 
frescoes  on  the  fagade  of  a  palace. 

Struck  with  pity  at  the  sight  of  so  much  misery 
united  to  such  application,  the  cardinal  called  the 
child,  took  him  to  his  own  house,  had  him  clothed 
decently,  and  admitted  him  as  a  sort  of  dependent 
of  the  family.  He  learnt  that  his  young  protege  was 
named  Josef  de  Bibera  ;  that  he  was  born  at  Xativa 
(now  San  Felipe),  near  Valencia ;  that  his  parents 
had  early  sent  him  to  that  provincial  capital  to  study 
at  the  university,  but  that  his  irresistible  inclination 
had  led  him  to  prefer  the  studio  of  Francisco  Bibalta 
to  his  classes ;  that  he  had  made  such  rapid  progress 
that  he  had  soon  been  chosen  to  assist  his  master ; 
but  that  then  a  passion  had  arisen  in  him  to  go  and 
study  art  at  its  fountain  head,  and,  no  longer  think- 
ing of  anything  but  Rome  and  its  marvels,  he  had 
abandoned  family,  friends,  and  country,  and  had  at 
last  arrived  in  that  capital  of  the  artistic  as  well  as 
of  the  religious  world.  There,  without  any  means 
of  support,  making  the  street  his  studio,  and  a  mile- 
stone his  easel,  copying  the  statues,  the  frescoes, 
and  the  passers-by,  he  lived  on  the  charity  of  his 
comrades,  who  called  him,  for  want  of  another  name. 
"  The  Little  Spaniard"  (Lo  Spagnoletto). 

Eibera  was  then  in  the  same  position  as  his  fel- 
low-countryman Cervantes  forty  years  later,  since 


SCHOOL  OF  VALENCIA.  11 

the  immortal  author  of  '  Don  Quixote '  had  also 
been  at  Eome,  a  camarero  of  the  cardinal  Giulio 
Acquaviva.  But  the  great  painter  could  not,  any 
more  than  the  great  writer,  be  condemned  to  the 
degrading  idleness  of  the  antechamber  of  a  prince  of 
the  church.  One  day,  then,  throwing*  off  his  livery 
and  resuming  his  rags,  Eibera  tied  from  the  car- 
dinal's house  to  recommence  joyously  his  life  of 
poverty,  labor,  and  independence.  He  was  accused 
of  ingratitude  ;  he  was  treated  as  an  incorrigible 
vagabond ;  but  at  a  later  time,  seeing  his  labors  and 
successes,  the  good  priest,  who  had  taken  him  hi, 
forgave  his  offence,  and  even  congratulated  him  on 
having  preferred  the  noble  labor  of  his  art  to  the 
pleasures  of  an  easy  existence. 

Of  all  the  great  works  that  surrounded  him,  those 
that  Eibera  admired  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm, 
because  they  best  answered  the  instincts  of  his  own 
genius,  were  the  works  of  the  proud  and  fiery  Cara- 
vaggio.  There,  in  the  violent  effects  of  chiaroscuro, 
the  young  Spaniard  beheld  the  greatest  prodigies  of 
art ;  he  obtained  admission  to  the  studio  of  th  s 
master,  but  he  could  not  have  received  his  lessons 
long,  as  Caravaggio  died  in  1609,  when  Eibera  was 
only  twenty.  He  then  left  Eome,  and  went  to  Parnia, 
where  he  was  attracted  by  the  great  renown  of  Cor- 
reggio.  Before  his  works  a  fresh  enthusiasm  seized 
Eibera.  He  began  to  study  them  with  a  sort  of 
frenzy,  and,  laying  aside  his  former  touch,  which 
was  strong  and  violent,  he  threw  himself  into  the 
opposite  extreme,  endeavoring  to  make  his  style 
as  soft,  tender,  and  delicate  as  that  of  his  new 


12  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

master.  On  his  return  to  Rome  his  friends  were 
astonished  at  the  complete  metamorphosis  ;  but  far 
from  congratulating  him  they  blamed  him  for  it. 
They  united  their  efforts  to  bring  him  back  to  the 
style  of  Caravaggio,  which  must,  they  told  him,  by 
its  power  and  novelty,  procure  him  both  more  glory 
and  also  more  money.  Whether  these  counsels 
were  disinterested  or  not,  it  seems  to  me  that  Kibera 
did  well  to  follow  them. 

His  taste  for  dark,  strange,  and  terrible  subjects 
proves  sufficiently  that  the  fire  of  Caravaggio  suited 
him  better  than  the  suavity  of  Correggio.  And  yet 
the  intelligent  study  of  the  latter  introduced  a  new 
element  to  the  style  of  Kibera,  and,  by  tempering 
the  defects  into  which  the  too  complete  imitation  of 
the  latter  would  have  thrown  him,  it  was  certainly 
one  of  the  causes  of  the  superiority  he  obtained  over 
his  former  master. 

When  settled  at  Naples,  and  married  to  the 
daughter  of  a  rich  picture-dealer,  Eibera  had  only 
to  work,  finding  in  the  profession  of  his  father-in- 
law  an  easy  means  of  making  his  name  and  his 
works  known. 

A  singular  circumstance,  too,  helped  to  found  his 
reputation  suddenly.  The  house  he  occupied  with 
his  wife's  family  was  situated  in  the  same  square  as 
the  palace  of  the  viceroy.  One  day,  according  to 
the  Italian  custom,  his  father-in-law  had  placed  on 
the  balcony,  for  public  exhibition,  a  Martyrdom  of 
St.  Bartholomeiv,  which  Ribera  had  just  completed. 
A  crowd,  attracted  by  the  sight  of  this  magnificent 
work,  soon  covered  the  square,  making  the  air  re- 


SCHOOL  OF   VALENCIA.  13 

sound  with  cries  of  enthusiasm.  The  noise  became 
such,  that  at  the  little  Spanish  court  it  was  believed 
that  there  was  a  popular  outbreak,  and  that  a  Mas- 
aniello  was  haranguing  the  people.  The  viceroy 
came  out  armed,  saw  the  cause  of  the  disorder,  ad- 
mired the  picture,  and  ordered  the  artist  to  appear 
before  him.  His  joy  was  great  to  find  in  him  a 
fellow-countryman.  He  named  him  at  once  his 
titular  painter,  with  suitable  appointments,  and  gave 
him  apartments  in  his  own  palace. 

The  ragged  student  of  the  streets  of  Home  had 
thenceforth  attained  the  summit  of  fortune;  he 
possessed  both  riches  and  authority.  He  became 
soon  the  most  opulent  and  luxurious  of  artists,  the 
equal  of  nobles  and  princes.  He  never  went  out 
except  in  his  coach,  and  his  wife  was  always  fol- 
lowed by  a  squire.  Two  centuries  ago  this  was 
considered  the  height  of  luxury  and  ostentation.  It 
is  said  that  one  day  two  Spanish  officers,  dazzled  by 
the  pretended  miracles  of  alchemy,  came  to  offer 
him  a  share  in  their  imaginary  fortune,  if  he  would 
advance  the  funds  for  their  researches  after  the 
philosopher's  stone,  "I  also  make  gold,"  replied 
Eibera,  mysteriously ;  "  return  to-morrow,  and  I 
will  reveal  to  you  my  secret."  Faithful  to  their  ap- 
pointment, the  two  alchemists  found  Kibera  the 
next  day  in  his  studio,  giving  the  finishing  touches 
to  a  picture.  He  called  a  servant  and  ordered  him 
to  take  the  picture  to  a  merchant,  who  would  give 
him  in  exchange  400  ducats  ;  then  when  the  servant 
returned  he  threw  the  money  on  the  table,  saying  : 
"  Gentlemen,  this  is  the  gold  which  comes  from  my 


14  WuNDEltS   OF   PAINTING. 

crucible.  I  need  no  other  secret  to  procure  it  in 
abundance." 

Although  he  painted  all  his  pictures  in  Italy,  Ri- 
bera  is  thoroughly  Spanish ;  in  the  first  place,  for 
the  same  reason  that  Nicholas  Poussin  and  Claude 
Lorraine  were  French  painters,  namely,  that  they 
were  born  in  France,  although  they  lived  at  Rome ; 
and  Ribera  forgot  his  birth  so  little,  and,  indeed, 
showed  himself  so  proud  of  it,  that  in  signing  his 
best  pictures  he  never  failed  to  add  to  the  words 
Giuseppe  de  Ribera  the  word  Espanol ;  his  style 
also  is  more  Spanish  than  Italian.  And,  indeed,  as 
a  body,  the  Italian  painters  are  particularly  idealis- 
tic, in  that  they  seek  the  beautiful  even  beyond  the 
real,  and  they  prefer  leaving  the  care  of  interpreting 
their  thought  to  the  mind  rather  than  to  place  what 
might  explain  it  before  the  eye  of  the  spectator  in  a 
material  form.  The  Spanish  painters,  on  the  con- 
trary, taken  as  a  whole,  are  peculiarly  realistic  ;  they 
seek  less  the  beautiful  than  the  true,  and  they  ex- 
press their  thought  by  the  complete  and  material 
copy  of  all  the  objects  it  embraces. 

Ribera  must  be  placed  in  the  first  rank  of  these 
realistic  painters.  He  may  be  accused  of  purposely 
exaggerating  the  contrasts  of  light  and  shadow ;  of 
choosing  bald  and  bearded  heads,  decrepit  and  dis- 
torted bodies ;  of  seeking  in  his  choice  of  subjects, 
in  the  features  and  attitudes  of  the  personages,  and 
in  all  the  details  of  the  scenes  he  depicts,  whatever 
was  most  terrible,  wild,  and  even  hideous  and  repul- 
sive, in  order  to  move  the  spectator  to  horror  and 
tear  but  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  these  sub- 


SCHOOL   OF   VALENCIA.  15 

jects  and  details  are  possible,  and  even  probable, 
which  is  sufficient  for  truth  in  the  arts ;  they  are  also 
rendered  with  marvellous  fidelity  and  incomparable 
energy,  and  no  painter  of  any  school  has  ever  car- 
ried force,  boldness,  Brilliancy,  and  solidity  in  the 
execution  of  his  works  further  than  Ribera. 

The  paintings  of  Ribera,  like  those  of  the  Italian 
artists,  are  scattered  throughout  the  whole  of  Eu- 
rope, But  Naples,  his  adopted  country,  has  re- 
tained some  of  the  principal  ones.  It  was  for  the 
Carthusian  Convent,  called  San  Martino,  at  the 
foot  of  Fort  St.  Elmo,  then  rich,  but  now  converted 
into  a  hospital,  that  Eibera  painted  his  great  work 
of  the  Communion  of  the  Apostles,  twelve  Prophets 
on  the  windows  of  the  different  chapels,  and,  lastly, 
the  Descent  from  the  Cross,  which  is  almost  unani- 
mously said  to  be  his  masterpiece.  Here  we  may 
find,  besides  the  qualities  enumerated  above,  much 
pathos  and  expression,  and  a  power  of  feeling  which 
is  not  usually  to  be  met  with  in  his  works  ;  so  that 
this  picture  seems  to  unite  to  the  fiery  energy  of 
Caravaggio  not  only  the  grace  of  Correggio,  but  the 
religious  fervor  of  Fra  Angelico.  It  is  sad  to  have 
to  associate  this  fine  work  with  a  base  and  unworthy 
action.  In  the  same  convent  of  San  Martino,  op- 
posite the  Descent  from  the  Gross,  there  was  another 
by  Stanzioni.  This  could  only  have  heightened  the 
merits  of  liibera's  painting  by  comparison.  Yet  the 
Spaniard  persuaded  the  monks  that  it  needed  clean- 
ing; and  by  mixing  corrosive  substances  with  the 
varnish  he  spoiled  all  the  delicate  parts  of  Stan- 
zioni's  picture.  That  artist  refused  to  touch  it 


16  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

again,  so  as  to  leave  au  imperishable  souvenir  of  hig 
rival's  perfidy. 

In  the  museum  Degli  Studi  two  of  Ribera's 
works  have  been  placed  in  the  room  of  the  Capi 
jE Optra  :  Saint  Jerome  in  the  desert,  listening  to 
the  trumpet  of  the  angel,  and  the  large  picture  of 
Stienue,  in  which  the  foster-father  of  Bacchus  is 
lying  on  the  ground,  receiving  drink  from  the  satyrs 
who  surround  him.  At  the  bottom  of  this  picture 
may  be  read  the  following  inscription  :  "  Josephus  a 
fiibera,  Hispanus  Valentin  us  et  coacademicus  lioma- 
nuSj  faciebat  Parthenope,  16*26."  This  long  and  arro- 
gant inscription  is  traced  on  a  scroll,  which  a  ser- 
pent seems  to  bite  and  tear.  How  could  Eibera 
complain  of  envy,  or  represent  himself  as  its  victim, 
when  he  was  rich,  honored  and  powerful,  and  when 
he  himself  carried  his  jealousy  even  to  ferocity  ?  It 
was,  indeed,  in  his  own  house  that  the  fazzioni  de 
pittori,  those  coteries  of  painters,  were  formed,  who 
deserve  the  name  of  factions,  because  they  made 
war  on  rival  schools,  even  with  the  dagger.  The 
faction  of  Naples,  which  had  Ribera  as  its  head, 
numbered  among  its  members  bravi,  such  as  Cor- 
renzio  and  Caracciolo,  who  maintained  the  superior- 
ity of  their  master  at  the  sword's  point,  and  permit- 
ted the  entry  of  the  city  to  no  painter  who  did  not 
belong  to  his  school.  Thus  it  was  that  they  drove 
from  Naples  the  great  artists  which  had  been  sent  for 
from  all  parts  of  Italy  to  assist  in  the  decorations  oi 
the  Duomo  of  St.  Januarius.  Annibale,  Carracci, 
Guido,  and  Josepin  were  obliged  to  fly  in  order  to 
escape  the  blows  of  this  brotherhood  of  a  new 


SCHOOL    OF  VALENCIA.  17 

order;  and  when  Domenichino  died  before  being 
able  to  reach  Rome,  the  rumors  of  poisoning  which 
prevailed  proved  that  it  was,  at  all  events,  possible. 
Such  outrages  cannot  be  too  severely  condemned. 
It  is  a  stain  on  the  life  of  a  great  artist,  which  nei- 
ther the  greatness  of  his  talent  nor  the  brilliancy  of 
his  renown  can  redeem. 

In  the  Louvre  there  is  only  one  of  Ribera's  works 
—  an  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds — and,  although  it  is 
very  beautiful,  it  is  insufficient  to  make  him  known, 
because  it  is  not  in  his  usual  style,  and  he  shows 
himself  in  it  less  as  the  continuer  of  Caravaggio 
than  as  the  imitator  of  Correggio.  The  Museo  del 
Key,  at  Madrid,  is  more  fortunate  in  having  a  great 
number  of  his  works,  and  in  all  his  styles.  If  we 
wish  to  see  him,  on  his  return  from  Parma,  employ- 
ing the  calm,  soft  style  of  Correggio,  we  have  only 
to  look  at  Jacob's  Ladder,  an  excellent  specimen  of 
the  second  phase  of  his  life.  Of  his  later  style, 
when  he  returned  to  the  natural  bent  of  his  genius, 
we  find  the  Twdve  Apostles— &  valuable  series  of  ex- 
pressive heads,  in  which  may  be  seen  every  age,  from 
the  youthful  St.  John,  the  beloved  disciple,  to  the 
old  St.  James  the  Great ;  a  striking  Mary  the 
Egyptian ;  a  St.  James  and  St.  Roch,  magnificent 
pendents  brought  from  the  Escurial ;  and  lastly,  a 
Mhrtyrdom  of  St.  Bartholomew,  the  most  celebrated 
of  his  paintings  of  this  terrible  subject.  Here  he 
has  shown  as  much  talent  in  composition  and  power 
of  expression,  in  the  union  of  grief  and  beatitude, 
as  incomparable  force  in  the  execution. 

The  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  at  Madrid  possesses 


18  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

several  other  works  of  Eibera's,  amongst  which 
there  are  two  very  singular  full-length  portraits  in 
one  frame,  which  deserve  greater  attention.  In  the 
centre  of  this  picture  we  see  the  head  of  an  old  man 
with  a  black  beard,  on  the  body  of  a  woman  who  is 
nursing  a  child  in  swaddling  clothes ;  a  little  further 
back  there  is  another  old  man,  who  seems  to  be  the 
St.  Joseph  to  this  strange  Madonna.  This  appears 
at  first  merely  a  fantastic  popular  legend,  represent- 
ed by  the  painter  in  a  caprice,  but  it  is  in  reality  a 
natural  curiosity,  faithfully  represented.  The  fol- 
lowing explanation  is  written  in  Spanish  in  a  corner 
of  the  picture :  "  Portrait  of  Magdalen  Ventura, 
born  in  the  Abruzzi ;  fifty-two  years  old.  She  was 
thirty-seven  when  her  long  beard  began  to  grow. 
She  had  three  children  by  her  husband,  Felix  de 
Amici.  Copied  from  nature,  for  the  admiration  of 
the  living,  by  Joseph  de  Bibera."  This  picture, 
curious  from  its  subject,  does  not  offer  less  interest 
from  an  artistic  point  of  view.  It  is  one  of  those 
forcible  and  solid  paintings,  which  may  be  almost 
said  to  be  engraved  on  the  canvas,  in  which  Bibera 
surpassed  even  Caravaggio  himself,  and  the  secret 
of  which  he  left  to  no  one. 

Although  we  are  only  able  to  notice  the  chief  of 
the  masters,  and  of  their  works,  we  ought  still  to 
mention  in  the  school  of  Valentia  the  two  ESPINOSAS, 
father  and  son,  who  continued  the  style  of  the  Bi- 
baltas,  and  a  certain  ESTEBAN  MARCH,  who,  a  pupil 
of  Orrente,  himself  an  imitator  of  Bassano,  belongs 
to  the  schools  of  Toledo  and  Venice.  He  distin- 
guished himself  principaUy  in  painting  battle  scenes, 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  19 

and  it  is  said  that  he  used  to  fence  against  the  wall, 
like  a  second  Don  Quixote,  with  cut  and  thrust,  in 
order  to  heat  his  imagination. 

ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL. 

Two  local  schools,  as  we  have  already  said,  arose 
about  the  same  time  as  that  of  Seville,  one  at  Cor- 
dova, the  other  at  Granada.  Let  us  choose  the 
most  illustrious  master  from  each :  at  Cordova,  it 
will  be  Cespedes  ;  at  Granada,  Alonzo  Cano. 

PABLO  DE  CESPEDES  (1538-1608)  was  not  merely  a 
painter ;  his  was  one  of  those  gifted  minds  which 
are  capable  of  grasping  everything — science,  litera- 
ture, and  the  fine  arts — and  which  only  fail  in  attain- 
ing to  the  first  rank  in  each  from  the  division  of 
their  labor  and  intellect  amongst  several  pursuits  of 
equally  difficult  attainment,  instead  of  bringing  their 
whole  powers  to  bear  on  one  alone.  On  leaving  the 
university,  Pablo  de  Cespedes  set  out  for  Home, 
was  charmed  with  the  works  of  Michael  Angelo,  felt 
a  fresh  impulse,  and  resolved  to  cultivate  the  arts, 
although  without  abandoning  the  culture  of  letters. 
Provided,  on  his  return  from  Italy,  with  a  canonry 
in  the  chapter  of  Cordova,  he  did  not  again  leave 
his  native  town,  and  gave  up  his  time  peacefully  to 
the  different  studies  to  which  his  taste  and  know- 
ledge led  him.  This  eminent  man  possessed  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  Italian,  Latin,  and  Greek, 
and  was  able  to  converse  in  Hebrew  and  Arabic. 
Such  a  knowledge  of  languages,  then  rare,  gave  him 
great  assistance  in  his  labors  of  pure  erudition. 


20  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

Amongst  his  works  of  this  kind  may  be  mentioned 
a  dissertation  on  the  cathedral  of  Cordova,  tending 
to  prove  that  this  beautiful  mosque  was  built  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  eighth  century,  by  Abderrahnuin  I., 
the  founder  of  the  Ommeyade  dynasty  in  Spain,  and 
of  the  Caliphate  of  Cordova.  This  mosque,  which 
is  the  most  precious  religious  monument  left  us  of 
the  Arabs,  occupied  precisely  the  place  of  the  temple 
of  Janus,  built  by  the  Eomans  after  the  conquest 
and  pacification  of  Iberia.  But  the  best  literary 
work  of  Cespedes  is  the  one  he  wrote  in  1604,  the 
title  of  which  is,  '  Parallel  between  Ancient  and 
Modern  Painting  and  Sculpture.'  Without  any 
acquaintance  with  Vasari's  book,  which  was  written 
about  the  same  time,  he  gives  interesting  details 
about  the  Florentine  painters  from  Cimabue  to 
Michael  Angelo  ;  he  also  gives  some  descriptions, 
taken  from  Pliny,  of  some  works  of  the  Greeks,  and 
then  ingeniously  compares  these  with  the  works  of 
Raphael,  Michael  Angelo,  Titian,  Correggio,  and 
the  masters  of  his  own  time. 

Cespedes,  not  content  with  being  a  learned  painter, 
became  also  a  poet.  He  celebrated  in  beautiful 
verses  the  praises  of  an  art  whose  history  he  had 
written,  and  in  which  he  had  himself  acquired  great 
celebrity.  We  must  all  regret  that  he  was  unable 
to  complete  his  '  Poem  on  Painting,'  some  precious 
fragments  of  which  have  been  preserved  by  Pacheco. 
It  would  probably  have  been  the  best  poem  that 
has  been  written  on  the  fine  arts,  and  superior  in 
grandeur  of  conception,  elevation  of  ideas,  and 
beauty  of  lanp-uaere.  to  both  the  Latin  poem  of  Du- 


ANDALUS1AN    SCHOOL.  21 

fresnoy,  and  fco   those  in  French  by  Lemierre  and 
Watelet. 

Pacheco  says  of  Cespedes :  "  He  was  a  great 
imitator  of  the  beautiful  style  of  Correggio,  and  one 
of  the  finest  colorists  in  Spain."  "If  Cespedes," 
adds  Antonio  Ponz,  "  instead  of  being  the  friend  of 
Federico  Zuccheri,  could  have  been  the  friend  of 
Raphael,  he  would  have  become  one  of  the  greatest 
painters  in  the  world,  as  he  was  one  of  the  most 
learned."  Cean-Bermudez  admired  "  the  elegance 
of  his  drawing,  the  force  of  his  figures,  his  know- 
ledge of  anatomy,  his  skill  in  foreshortening,  the 
brilliancy  of  his  coloring,  and  especially  that  power 
of  invention  which  he  never  needed  to  borrow  from 
others."  We  have  only  one  picture  of  Cespedes  to 
verify  the  justness  of  these  eulogies.  This  is  an 
enormous  Last  Supper  placed  over  the  altar  in  one 
of  the  chapels  with  which  the  Christians  have  dis- 
figured the  old  Arab  mosque,  where  the  great  Mus- 
sulman dogma  of  the  unity  of  God  had  formerly 
prevailed.  Almost  all  the  other  works  of  Cespedes, 
the  names  of  which  are  preserved,  have  entirely 
disappeared,  without  our  even  knowing  where  to 
look  for  them.  They  were  nearly  all  in  the  church 
attached  to  the  Jesuit  College  at  Cordova,  and  it 
would  appear  that  at  the  time  of  the  suppression  of 
this  order  by  Charles  III.  these  pictures  were 
carried  away,  never  to  return.  They  were,  doubt- 
less, not  destroyed  ;  but  as  Cespedes  was  not  known 
beyond  his  own  country,  it  is  probable  that  com- 
merce would  pass  them  under  other  names  than 
his. 


22  WONDEES   OF  PAINTING. 

ALONZO  CANO  (1601-1667)  has  been  termed  the 
Spanish.  Michael  Angelo.  This  is  merely  because 
he  practised  the  three  arts  which  are  especially 
called  fine.  He  was  a  painter,  sculptor,  and  archi- 
tect. Like  Michael  Angelo,  he  was  more  of  a  sculp- 
tor than  painter,  but  his  only  works  in  architecture 
were  those  heavy  church  decorations  called  retablos 
(altar  screens),  which  he  not  only  designed,  but  for 
which  he  himself  made  all  the  ornaments,  sculptured 
or  painted,  statues  or  pictures.  Towards  the  close 
of  his  life  Alonzo  Cano  came  to  live  at  Granada,  his 
birthplace,  and,  provided  with  a  rich  benefice,  passed 
tranquilly  the  last  years  of  a  life  which  had  been 
much  agitated  by  travels,  passions,  and  adventures. 
He  left  seven  of  his  works  to  the  Museum  of  Madrid. 
Amongst  these  are  a  St.  John  writing  the  Apocalypse, 
and  another  of  the  Dead,  Christ  ivept  over  by  an  An- 
gel. As  a  painter,  he  has  been  not  unjustly  termed 
the  Spanish  Albani,  for,  contrary  to  what  might 
have  been  expected  from  his  passionate  temper,  the 
principal  characteristics  of  his  works  are  softness 
and  suavity.  By  a  skillful  arrangement  of  draperies 
he  makes  the  outline  of  the  form  they  cover  suf- 
ficiently marked.  He  also  took  so  much  care  in  the 
execution  of  hands  and  feet,  always  a  great  difficul- 
ty, that  on  this  account  alone  his  works  might  be 
distinguished  from  any  other  painter  of  his  country. 
Less  fiery  and  powerful  than  Bibera,  less  profound 
and  less  brilliant  than  Murillo,  he  takes  a  middle 
place  between  these  two  masters,  being  correct,  ele- 
gant, and  full  of  grace. 

We  now  come  to  Seville. 


ANDALUSIAN    SCHOOL.  23 

Luis  DE  VAHGAS  (1502-1568),  a  pupil  at  Borne  of 
Peiino  del  Vaga,  had  the  distinguished  honor  of 
being  the  first  to  bring  into,  and  teach  in,  his  own 
country  the  true  method  of  oil  and  fresco  painting. 
It  was  he  who  substituted  the  Renaissance  art  for 
the  Gothic.  At  different  times  he  passed  twenty- 
eight  years  in  Italy.  When  settled  at  Seville  he 
completed  several  large  works  there,  the  greater  part 
being  frescoes.  Amongst  others,  there  was  the  cele- 
brated Calle  de  Amargura  (  Way  of  Bitterness)  (it  has 
since  disappeared,  owing  to  the  injuries  it  received 
from  time  and  unskillful  restorations),  which  he 
painted  in  1563  on  the  steps  of  the  church  of  San 
Pablo.  It  was  there  that  people  condemned  by  the 
inquisition  were  permitted  to  stop  on  their  way  to 
punishment.  On  this  account  it  was  called  by  the 
people  El  Cristo  de  los  Azotados. 

The  licentiate  JUAN  DE  LAS  EOELAS  (1558-1625) 
brought  another  gift  to  his  fellow-countrymen  from 
Italy.  This  was  the  Venetian  coloring,  which  he 
had  studied  under  the  pupils  of  Titian  and  Tintoret- 
to. We  might,  indeed,  almost  believe  that  it  was 
Bonifazio,  or  one  of  the  Palmas,  who  painted  the 
cathedral  Santiago  mata-Moros  (kill  Moors)  assisting 
the  Spaniards  at  the  Battle  of  Clavijo  ;  at  the  church 
of  the  Cardinal's  hospice,  the  Death  of  St.  Hermen- 
gild  ;  in  the  church  Santa  Lucia,  the  Martyrdom  of 
the  patron  saint ;  and,  lastly,  over  the  high  altar  of 
San  Isidor,  the  Death  of  that  archbishop  of  Seville. 
This  is  the  largest  of  all  his  works,  for  it  covers  the 
whole  screen.  It  is  divided  into  two  pai'ts,  heaven 
and  earth,  and  this  was  the  first  example  of  that 


24  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

style  of  composition  so  often  imitated  by  all  t  e 
school. 

After  these  two  disciples  of  Home  and  Venice 
come  the  purely  Andalusian  painters ;  and  first 
among  them  the  two  masters  of  Velazquez,  HERRERA 
el  viejo  (1576-1656)  and  PACHECO  (1571-1654). 
Nothing  could  be  a  greater  contrast  than  theso 
masters  and  the  works  they  produced.  Francisco 
de  Herrera  was  so  gloomy  and  violent  that  he 
passed  nearly  his  whole  life  in  solitude,  and  wr*s 
abandoned  by  all  his  pupils,  and  even  by  his  chil- 
dren. He  painted  his  pictures,  as  he  did  everything 
else,  in  a  sort  of  frenzy.  He  used  reeds  to  draw 
with,  and  large  brushes  to  paint  with.  Armed  in  this 
manner,  he  executed  important  works  with  incredi- 
ble dexterity  and  promptitude.  The  tradition  which 
Cean  Bermudez  heard  at  Seville  states  that,  when 
he  had  many  works  on  hand,  and  no  pupil  to  assist 
him,  he  charged  an  old  servant,  the  only  human  be- 
ing he  could  keep  in  his  house,  to  put  the  first  layer 
of  colour  on  his  pictures.  This  woman  took  the 
colors  with  a  tow-brush,  and  smeared  them  on  the 
canvas  almost  at  random ;  then  Herrera  continued 
the  work,  and  drew  from  this  chaos  draperies,  limbs, 
and  faces.  This  harshness  of  temper  and  native 
coarseness  threw  Herrera  entirely  out  of  the  timid 
style  which  the  imitation  of  the  Roman  school  had 
given  to  his  predecessors.  He  adopted  the  more 
fiery  style  of  the  Bolognese,  or,  rather,  he  formed  a 
new  style  for  himself,  quite  personal,  and  better 
adapted  to  the  undisciplined  genius  of  his  nation. 
The  enormous  Last  Judgment  which  he  painted  for 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  25 

the  church  of  San  Bernardo,  at  Seville,  proves  that 
Herrera  was  not  merely  a  painter  from  habit,  with 
his  hand  better  endowed  than  his  head  ;  we  see  that 
he  also  possessed  the  true  science  of  the  art,  be- 
sides correctness  of  drawing,  profound  and  varied 
expression,  and  grandeur  in  strength. 

Francisco  Pacheco,  on  the  contrary,  was  rather  a 
man  of  letters  than  a  painter  ;  he  wrote  a  treatise 
on  the  (  Art  of  Painting,'  and  his  house  soon  became, 
as  one  of  its  visitors  said,  "  the  usual  academy  of 
the  most  cultivated  minds  of  Seville  and  the  prov- 
inces." Pacheco  had  a  curious  picture  gallery  ;  he 
had  collected  as  many  as  three  hundred  portraits, 
either  in  oil  of  a  smaU  size,  or  drawn  in  red  and  black 
chalks,  of  all  the  men  of  any  distinction  who  had 
ever  visited  at  his  house.  Among  this  number  were 
Cervantes,  Quevedo,  Herrera,  the  poet,  etc.  But, 
notwithstanding  his  continual  study,  notwithstand- 
ing the  care  with  which  he  prepared  his  pictures  by 
a  number  of  cartoons,  Pacheco  could  never  rise 
above  a  cold  correctness,  without  passion  or  life. 
Between  the  rough  fire  of  one  of  his  masters  and 
the  learned  weakness  of  .the  other,  Velazquez  did 
well  to  draw  from  simple  nature. 

FBANCISCO  ZUEBAEAN  (1598 —about  1662),  born  of 
parents  who  were  simple  laborers  in  the  town  of 
Fuente  'de  Cantos  in  Estremadura,  belongs  to  the 
Andalusian  school,  because  he  studied  at  Seville 
under  Las  Roelas,  and  passed  his  whole  life  there. 
He  only  once,  when  very  old,  went  to  Madrid,  and 
only  once  returned  to  his  native  province  to  paint 
eight  large  pictures,  representing  the  History  of  St, 


26  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

Jerome,  for  the  church  in  the  little  town  of  Guada- 
lupe,  between  Toledo  and  Caceres.  This  has  caused 
it  to  be  said,  in  a  biographical  notice  published  in 
France  by  a  man  whose  official  position  must  have 
made  him  well  versed  in  the  history  of  art,  that  Zu- 
baran  had  been  to  Guadeloupe  to  paint  these  pic- 
tures. 

Several  of  his  works  have  been  recently  scattered 
throughout  Europe,  and  some  have  been  at  Paris  in 
the  little  Spanish  museum  formed  by  Louis  Philippe, 
and  dispersed  since  his  death. 

It  is,  however,  universally  acknowledged  that  the 
best  of  his  compositions,  that  in  which  all  his  good 
points  are  united  and  where  there  is  the  greatest 
display  of  talent,  is  the  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  which 
he  painted  for  the  church  of  the  College  placed  un- 
der the  patronage  of  the  celebrated  author  of  the 
"  Summa  Theologice."  Christ  and  the  Virgin  are 
above  in  glory  with  St.  Paul  and  St.  Dominic  ;  in 
the  centre  is  St.  Thomas  standing,  surrounded  by 
the  four  doctors  of  the  Latin  church  seated  on  the 
clouds  ;  lower  doAvn,  in  an  attitude  of  devotion  and 
admiration,  on  one  side  Charles  V.,  clothed  in  the 
imperial  mantle,  with  a  cortege  of  knights  ;  on  the 
other,  the  Archbishop  Deza,  the  founder  of  the  col- 
lege, with  a  suite  of  monks  and  attendants. 

Zurbaran  has  been  called  the  Spanish  Caravaggio. 
But  if  he  deserved  this  name,  it  was  not  by  the  fire 
of  his  pencil,  or  by  an  exaggerated  seeking  after 
effect ;  for  he  is  colder  and  more  reserved,  though, 
at  the  same  time,  nobler  and  more  correct,  than  Ca- 
ravaggio. If  Zurbaran  resemble  Caravaggio,  it  is 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  27 

through  his  frequent  use  of  bluish  tints,  which  some- 
times predominate  so  much  in  his  pictures  as  to 
make  them  appear  as  if  seen  through  a  veil  slightly 
tinged  with  blue  ;  and  also  from  his  deep  knowledge 
of  his  art,  and  happy  use  of  light  and  shade.  This 
is  the  real  point  of  resemblance  between  the  two 
masters.  As  for  the  nature  of  the  subjects — except 
a  small  number  of  large  compositions  which  were 
ordered  of  him — Zuvburan  preferred  simple  subjects, 
easy  of  comprehension,  and  requiring  only  a  small 
number  of  personages,  whom  he  always  placed  in 
perfectly  natural  attitudes.  Yet  he  never  painted 
comic  or  popular  scenes,  as  Velazquez  and  Murillo 
sometimes  did  ;  nor  strange  and  grotesque  ones  like 
Rib  era.  He  has  painted  some  female  saints,  and 
has  given  them  attractions  and  grace ;  but  severe 
religious  feeling  always  predominates  with  him.  No 
one,  indeed,  has  expressed  better  than  Zurburan  the 
rigors  of  an  ascetic  life,  and  the  austerity  of  the 
cloister ;  no  one  has  shown  better  than  he,  under 
the  girdle  of  rope  and  the  thick  hood,  the  attenu- 
ated forms  and  pale  heads  of  the  cenobites,  de- 
voted to  macerations  and  prayer,  who  in  the  words 
of  Buffon,  when  their  last  hour  arrives,  "  Nefinissent 
pas  de  vivre,  mais  achevent  de  mourir." 

Leaving  Velazquez  to  be  spoken  of  with  the  Cas- 
tilian  school,  we  now  come  to  Murillo. 

Born  in  Seville,  though  in  a  very  humble  condition 
of  life,  BARTOLOHE  ESTEBAN  MUEILLO  (1618 — 1682) 
passed  a  melancholy  youth  in  ignorance  and  neglect. 
A  certain  Juan  del  Castillo,  a  distant  relation,  gave 
him,  out  of  charity,  his  first  lessons  in  an  art  iu 


28  WONDEKS   OF  PAINTING. 

which  he  was  to  find  fortune  and  renown.  But 
Murillo  soon  lost  this  teacher,  who  went  to  live  in 
Cadiz,  and  for  a  long  time  he  had  no  master  but 
himself.  Deprived  of  an  intelligent  guide  and  of  all 
regular  study,  obliged  to  live  by  his  pencil  before 
he  had  learned  to  use  it,  never  having  had  an  op- 
portunity of  learning  his  own  powers,  and  only 
knowing  art  as  a  trade,  Murillo  was  at  first  merely 
a  sort  of  wholesale  painter.  He  daubed  on  small 
squares  of  canvas  or  wood  those  Madonnas  crushing 
the  serpent's  head,  which  were  called  the  Madonnas 
of  Guadalupe  ;  he  sold  them  by  the  dozen  for  one 
or  two  piastres  each,  according  to  their  size,  to  the 
captains  of  American  ships,  who  carried  this  mer- 
chandise, along  with  indulgences,  to  the  recently- 
converted  populations  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  This 
sort  of  work,  however,  by  teaching  him  how  to 
handle  his  brush,  softened  his  coloring,  which 
became  soft  and  artificial,  instead  of  being  hard. 

Murillo  was  already  twenty-four  years  old  when 
the  painter  Pedro  de  Moya  passed  through  Seville 
on  his  return  from  London  to  Granada,  bringing 
copies  and  imitations  of  Van  Dyck,  of  whom  he  had 
received  lessons.  At  the  sight  of  the  works  of 
Moya,  Murillo  was  in  ecstasies,  and  felt  his  true 
vocation.  It  was  the  spark  required  to  light  the 
fire  of  genius.  But  what  was  he  to  do  ?  Moya  was 
leaving  for  Granada,  and  was  but  a  pupil  himself ; 
it  was  useless  to  go  to  London,  Van  Dyck  had  just 
died ;  it  was  impossible  to  go  to  Italy  without 
money  or  a  protector.  Murillo,  at  last,  made  up  his 
mind  in  despair  ;  he  bought,  perhaps  on  credit,  a 


ANDALUSIAN    SCHOOL.  29 

roll  of  canvas,  cut  it  in  pieces,  which  he  prepared 
himself,  then,  taking  neither  rest  nor  sleep,  he 
covered  all  these  squares  with  Virgins,  Infant 
Christs,  and  bouquets  of  flowers.  His  goods  dis- 
posed of,  and  some  reals  in  his  pocket,  without 
asking  advice  or  taking  leave  of  any  one,  he  set  out 
for  Madrid.  On  his  arrival  at  the  capital,  he  went 
at  once  to  present  himself  to  his  fellow-countryman 
Velazquez,  twenty  years  older  than  himself,  and 
then  in  the  height  of  his  glory.  The  king's  painter 
received  the  young  traveller  with  kindness  ;  he  en- 
couraged him,  brought  him  forward,  procured  him 
useful  work,  an  entrance  to  the  royal  palaces,  and 
the  Escurial,  besides  admitting  him.  to  his  own 
studio,  and  giving  him  advice  and  lessons. 

Murillo  spent  two  years  in  studying  diligently  the 
pictures  the  style  of  which  he  most  admired,  those 
of  the  great  colorists,  Titian,  Eubens,  Van  Dyck, 
Eibera,  and  Velazquez  ;  then — less  tormented  with 
dreams  of  ambition  than  with  the  necessity  of 
attaining  an  independence,  he  left  Madrid  and 
returned  to  Seville.  His  absence  had  not  been 
noticed,  so  the  general  surprise  was  great  when,  the 
following  year,  there  appeared  in  the  little  cloister 
of  the  convent  of  San  Francisco  three  pictures 
which  he  had  just  painted ;  a  Monk  in  Ecstasy,  the 
Alms  of  San  Diego,  and  that  Death  of  St.  Clara  which 
has  been  seen  in  Paris,  in  the  Aguado  and  Sala- 
manca collection^.  Every  one  asked  where  Murillo 
had  learned  this  new  style,  so  attractive  and  forcible, 
which  united  the  manners  of  Eibera  and  of  Van 
Dyck,  and  in  the  union  seemed  almost  to  surpass 


CO  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

both.  Notwithstanding  the  envy  always  inspired  by 
success,  notwithstanding  the  bitter  hatred  of  the 
painters  whom  he  had  dethroned  from  the  first  rank, 
Murillo  soon  emerged  from  indigence  and  obscurity. 
He  had  returned  to  Seville  in  1645,  and,  until  his 
death  in  1682,  in  consequence  of  a  fall  from  a  scaf- 
fold, he  did  not  again  leave  his  native  town,  I  might 
almost  say  his  studio,  for  it  was  during  these  thirty- 
seven  years  that  his  numerous  paintings  were  exe- 
cuted. Chapters,  convents,  and  great  nobles  over- 
whelmed him,  to  his  heart's  content,  with  orders. 
There  are  few  high  altars  of  cathedrals,  or  sacris- 
ties, or  endowed  monasteries,  which  do  not  possess 
some  picture  of  their  patron  saint  by  his  hand ;  few 
noble  houses  which  have  not  some  family  portrait 
by  him  to  be  handed  down  as  an  heirloom  to  the 
eldest  son.  In  fertility,  Murillo  can  only  be  com- 
pared to  his  fellow-countryman,  Lope  de  Vega.  As 
a  painter  he  equalled  in  the  number  of  his  works 
the  poet  whom  Cervantes  called  a  monster  of  nature. 
This  wonderful  facility  of  production,  joined  to  the 
independence  which  he  preserved  all  his  life,  ex- 
plains the  reason  why  Murillo,  different  to  Velazquez, 
whose  works  were  all  engaged  for  the  king  his  mas- 
ter, was  able  to  make  his  name  and  works  known 
through  the  whole  of  Europe. 

But  this  is  not  the  sole  point  of  dissimilarity 
between  the  two  great  artists.  Although  Velazquez, 
the  king's  painter,  pensioned,  rich,  and  working  only 
at  his  leisure,  has  left  fewer  pictures ;  yet,  on  the 
other  hand/  he  w as  able  to  give  equal  care  to  them 
all.  and  to  make  them  as  perfect  as  possible.  Mu- 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  31 

rillo,  on  the  contrary,  painter  to  the  public,  and 
measuring  his  income  by  his  work,  has  produced 
much  more,  but  he  had  not  always  time  fully  to 
work  out  all  his  ideas  and  lovingly  to  finish  all  the 
details.  There  is  then  a  greater  difference  to  be 
found  amongst  his  works,  and  the  evident  haste  in 
which  some  are  done  betrays  the  humble  employ- 
ment of  his  earlier  days ;  we  might  almost  think 
that  these  were  destined  for  exportation  to  the  "West 
Indies.  Velazquez  feared  to  attempt  sacred  sub- 
jects ;  he  only  felt  at  home  in  the  more  ordinary 
scenes  of  life,  where  truth  is  the  greatest  merit. 
Murillo,  on  the  contrary,  endowed  with  a  rich  and 
brilliant  imagination,  and  animated  with  delicate 
sensibility,  delighted  especially  in  religious  subjects, 
in  which  art  may  cross  the  bounds  of  nature  and 
enter  the  world  of  imagination.  Velazquez,  in  short, 
had  but  one  style,  one  aim.  Whether  he  sought 
perfection  in  boldness  and  simplicity,  or  in  great 
care  and  finish,  what  he  wished  to  attain  was  always 
exactness,  precision,  and  an  illusion  of  truth.  Mu- 
rillo, loving  the  real  less  than  the  ideal,  and  address- 
ing himself  principally  to  the  imagination  and  the 
mind,  varied  his  style  with  his  subject.  He  had  not, 
like  most  painters,  a  succession  of  styles  or  phases 
in  his  career  as  an  artist ;  but  he  had  at  the  same 
time  three  manners,  which  he  employed  alternately 
and  according  to  the  subject.  These  three  styles 
are  termed  by  the  Spaniards,  cold,  ivarm,  and  aerial 
(frio,  ccllido  y  vaporoso).  These  words  describe 
them,  and  it  may  be  easily  conceived  how  they  are 
employed.  Thus,  the  peasant  boys  and  beggars 


32  WONDEKS  OF  PAINTING. 

would  be  painted  in  the  cold  style ;  the  ecstasies  of 
saints  in  the  warm  ;  the  annunciations  and  assump- 
tions in  the  aerial. 

Seville  at  first  was  filled  to  overflowing  with 
Murillo's  works ;  and  it  has  retained  a  large  number 
of  the  best.  In  one  of  the  chapels  of  its  cathedral 
may  be  seen  the  largest  painting  by  Murillo,  the 
ecstasy  of  St.  Antony  of  Padua.  When  I.  saw  it  I 
was  very  young,  and  a  taste  for  the  arts  was  not  yet 
fully  developed  in  me,  yet  I  remained,  like  the  mys- 
tic cenobite,  in  an  ecstasy  before  the  open  heavens. 
As  legends  will  always  be  invented  for  anything  very 
celebrated,  a  canon,  who  had  undertaken  to  be  my 
cicerone,  told  me  that  after  the  retreat  of  the  French 
in  1813,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  had  offered  to  buy 
this  picture  by  covering  it  with  gold  pieces.  This 
would  have  made  an  enormous  sum,  to  judge  from 
the  size  of  the  picture,  but  the  chapter  was  too  rich 
and  too  proud  to  accept  such  an  exchange  ;  England 
retained  her  gold  and  Seville  the  chef-d'oeuvre  of  her 
painter.  The  fellow  citizens  of  Murillo,  collecting 
all  the  pictures  of  his  they  could  obtain  from  the 
churches  and  monasteries,  have  succeeded  in  forming 
a  whole  museum  of  his  works  which  had  remained 
in  Andalusia.  It  is  in  an  old  convent  in  the  A  B  G 
street  at  Seville.  Here  we  may  find  collected  the 
Miracle  of  the  Loaves  and  Fishes,  which  picture  re- 
ceived the  popular  name  of  pan  y  peces  (bread  and 
fishes) ;  Moses  striking  the  Sock,  recently  engraved ; 
St.  Felix  Cantalicio,  which  the  Italians  say  is  painted 
with  milk  and  blood  (con  leche  y  sangre)  ;  the  Ma- 
donna de  la  Servilleta  ;  St.  Thomas  of  ViUanueva  dis- 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  33 

tributing  alms  to  the  poor  (the  painting  Murillo 
himself  preferred  of  all  his  works),  etc. ;  lastly,  the 
one  of  his  too  numerous  conceptions  which  is  called 
the  Perla  de  los  Ooncepciones.  This  is  a  symbolical 
representation  of  the  favorite  doctrine  of  the 
Spaniards,  which  has  become  the  dogma  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception..  It  is,  in  reality,  an  apo- 
theosis of  the  Virgin. 

Forty-five  pictures  by  Murillo  are  collected  in  the 
Museo  del  Bey  at  Madrid.  From  this  number  we 
must  choose  a  few  for  special  mention.  Of  the  cold 
style  we  prefer  a  Holy  Family,  usually  termed  ivith 
the  little  dog.  But  this  deserves  a  serious  reproach ; 
the  want  of  a  suitable  style  for  the  subject.  In  it 
we  see  neither  the  Child  God,  nor  the  Virgin  Mother, 
nor  the  foster  father ;  they  are  simply  a  carpenter 
laying  down  his  plane,  his  wife,  who  has  stopped  her 
wheel  to  watch  their  young  son  at  play,  a  little  boy 
making  a  spaniel  bark  at  a  bird  which  he  conceals 
in  his  hands.  But  it  is  a  well-conceived,  familiar 
scene,  adapted  to  excite  interest,  and  full  of  grace 
in  the  attitudes,  candor  in  the  expression,  and 
energy  in  the  touch  ;  the  name  of  the  picture  merely 
requires  to  be  changed.  Perhaps  in  the  same  style 
we  ought  to  place  the  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds 
higher.  In  the  representation  of  these  rustics,  the 
skins  in  which  they  are  clothed,  and  the  dogs  which 
accompany  them,  the  artist  displays  unequalled 
vigor  and  truth,  and  it  is  by  a  real  tour  deforce  that 
he  has  thrown  on  the  centre  of  the  scene  the  bril- 
liant reflection  of  the  light  from  above,  which  grad- 


34  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

ually  fades  into  the  night,  shadowing  the  extremities 
of  the  picture. 

The  Martyrdom  of  St.  Andreiv,  painted  in  small 
proportions,  is  one  of  the  best  of  the  aerial  style. 
A  silver  tint,  which  seems  showered  down  from 
heaven  by  the  angels,  who  hold  out  the  palm  of 
immortality  to  the  old  man  who  is  being  crucified, 
pervades  every  object,  softens  the  outlines,  harmo- 
nizes the  tints,  and  gives  the  whole  scene  a  cloudy 
and  fantastic  appearance  which  is  full  of  charm. 
The  same  phenomenon,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  is  also  to 
be  found  in  the  smallest  of  Murillo's  Annunciations. 
It  is  in  the  midst  of  this  celestial  atmosphere  that 
the  beautiful  archangel  Gabriel  appears  to  the 
youthful  Mary.  She  is  on  her  knees  praying  ;  the 
messenger  from  above  kneels  in  his  turn  before  her 
who  is  to  be  the  mother  of  the  Saviour.  A  brilliant 
band  of  angels,  from  among  which  these  two  figures 
seem  to  stand  out  in  relief,  fill  the  whole  space ; 
and  above  this  bright  background  there  appears,  as 
a  still  more  luminous  object,  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  is 
descending  in  the  form  of  a  white  dove.  If  I  had 
not  seen  it,  I  could  never  have  imagined  that  with 
the  colors  of  a  palette  the  brilliancy  of  the  miracu- 
lous light  could  have  been  imitated  to  such  a  degree 
as  to  make  the  rays  of  light  flood  the  whole  canvas 
with  their  glory. 

The  warm  style  was  that  which  Murillo  seems  to 
have  preferred  himself.  All  his  Ecstasies  of  Saints. 
and  the  number  of  these  is  great,  were  treated  in 
this  manner.  The  museum  of  Madrid  alone  pos- 
sesses four  St.  Bernard,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Francis 


AND  \LUSIAN    SCHOOL.  35 

of  Assifsi,  and  St.  Ildephonso.  Although  in  these 
four  paintings  the  subject  is  the  same,  Murillo  has 
succeeded  very  skillfully  in  varying  them,  either  in 
the  character  of  the  vision,  or  by  the  details  given 
in  the  legend.  To  St.  Ildephonso  the  Virgin  appears 
and  presents  him  with  a  chasuble  for  his  new  dig- 
nity of  archbishop  ;  before  St.  Augustine  the  heavens 
open  and  reveal  to  him  Jesus  crucified,  and  his 
immaculate  mother ;  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  visited 
by  the  Madonna  and  Child,  is  offering  them  the 
miraculous  roses,  which  in  the  spring  had  grown  on 
the  thorn  rods  with  which  he  had  flagellated  himself 
all  the  winter :  lastly,  St.  Bernard,  exalted  by  medi- 
tation and  fasting,  sees  in  his  humble  ceH  the  child 
Jesus  appear,  borne  by  his  mother  on  a  throne  of 
clouds  in  the  midst  of  the  heavenly  hosts. 

To  be  able  really  to  appreciate  Murillo  we  must 
realize  the  prodigious  difficulties  of  such  subjects. 
The  general  effect  results  principally  from  the  con- 
trast between  the  daylight  with  which  the  objects 
below  and  around  are  rendered  visible,  and  the  light 
of  the  apparition  which  illumines  the  upper  part  and 
centre  of  the  scene.  To  this  effect  must  be  added 
the  ecstatic  character  of  the  saint  and  the  divine 
nature  of  the  vision.  Murillo  comes  up,  in  every 
respect,  to  what  our  imagination  could  hope  or  con- 
ceive ;  his  earthly  daylight  is  perfectly  natural  and 
true,  his  heavenly  day  is  like  that  radiant  light  I 
endeavored  just  now  to  depict.  We  find  in  the 
attitudes  of  the  saints  and  the  expression  of  their 
features,  all  that  the  most  ardent  piety,  all  that  the 
most  passionate  exaltation  can  feel  or  express  in 


36  WONDEKS   OF   PAINTING. 

extreme  surprise,  delight,  and  adoration.  As  for  the 
visions,  they  appear  with  all  the  pomp  of  a  celestia] 
train,  in  which  are  marvellously  grouped  the  differ- 
ent spirits  of  the  immortal  hierarchy,  from  the  arch- 
angel with  outspread  wings,  to  the  bodiless  heads 
of  the  cherubim.  It  is  in  these  scenes  of  super- 
natural poetry  that  the  pencil  of  Murillo,  like  the 
wand  of  an  enchanter,  produces  marvels.  If  in 
scenes  taken  from  human  life  he  equals  the  greatest 
colorists,  he  is  alone  in  the  imaginary  scenes  of 
eternal  life.  It  might  be  said  of  the  two  great 
Spanish  masters  that  Velazquez  is  the  painter  of  the 
earth  and  Murillo  of  heaven. 

Although  the  Academy  of  San  Fernando  at 
Madrid  can  only  show  three  pictures,  instead  of 
forty-five,  by  Murillo,  yet  these  are  real  master- 
pieces. I  cannot  place  in  this  high  rank  a  Resur- 
rection which,  notwithstanding  the  resplendent  beauty 
of  our  Lord,  ascending  as  God  from  the  tomb  where 
He  had  been  laid  as  man,  is  only  an  ordinary  pic- 
ture for  Murillo ;  but  both  the  St.  Elizabeth  of  Hun- 
gary, and  the  two  vast  pendents  usually  called  los 
medios  puntos  (the  half-circles)  must  be  considered 
as  masterpieces. 

The  subject  of  the  first  of  these  works  is  this ;  in 
a  vestibule  of  sumptuous  architecture  the  good 
queen  is  engaged  in  labors  of  true  charity.  The 
kings  of  France  cured  scrofula ;  it  appears,  how- 
ever, that  the  kings  of  Hungary  had  another  speci- 
ality in  medicine.  St.  Elizabeth  is  tending  those 
suffering  from  diseased  heads.  Thus  the  two  most 
opposite  extremes  of  Murillo  are  united ;  the  sordid, 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  39 

disgusting  misery  of  his  little  beggars,  and  the  noble 
grandeur  of  his  demi-gods.  From  this  arises  the 
perpetual  contrast  and  high  moral  tone  of  the  pic- 
ture. The  palace  turned  into  a  hospital ;  on  one 
hand,  the  ladies  of  the  court,  beautiful,  full  of 
health,  and  richly  adorned !  on  the  other,  suffering 
and  diseased  children,  a  paralytic  leaning  on  his 
crutches,  an  old  man  who  is  uncovering  the  sores  on 
his  legs,  an  old  woman  crouching  on  the  floor, 
whose  haggard  profile  stands  out  clearly  against  the 
black  velvet  behind ;  on  one  side,  all  the  grace  s  of 
luxury  arid  health  ;  on  the  other,  the  hideous  train 
of  misery  and  sickness  ;  then,  in  the  centre,  the 
divine  charity  which  brings  these  extremes  of  hu- 
manity together.  A  young  and  beautiful  woman, 
wearing  over  the  nun's  veil  the  crown  of  the  queen, 
is  delicately  .sponging  the  impure  head  which  a  child 
covered  with  leprosy  is  holding  over  a  golden  ewer. 
Her  white  hands  seem  to  refuse  the  work  which 
her  heart  commands ;  her  mouth  trembles  with 
horror  and  her  eyes  fill  with  tears,  but  pity  conquers 
even  disgust,  and  religion  triumphs — that  religion 
which  commands  us  to  love  our  neighbor.  The 
unanimous  voice  of  the  admirers  of  Murillo  pro- 
claims Si.  Elizabeth  to  be  the  greatest  and  most 
perfect  of  his  works.  I  do,  indeed,  believe  that  this 
is  the  best  of  his  compositions  in  elevation  of  style, 
in  the  arrangement  of  the  parts,  and  the  meaning  of 
the  whole  ;  and  I  must  add,  in  order  to  make  my- 
self understood,  that  it  appears  to  me  the  most  Ilcd- 
ian,  the  most  suitable  to  be  represented  by  engrav- 
ing. But  (why  should  I  not  dare  to  say  it?)  when 


40  WONDEHS   OF   PAINTING. 

I  remember  that  tliis  magnificent  work  is  by  Mu- 
rillo  I  do  not  find  that  the  manual  work  is  equal  to 
the  thought.  Although  Murillo  never  composed 
better  than  in  this  picture,  he  has  painted  better. 
I  can  fortunately  furnish  a  proof  of  this  opinion. 

In  the  same  Academy,  by  the  side  of  St.  Elizabeth) 
are  two  other  pictures  where,  as  a  colorist,  Murillo 
has  displayed  all  his  powers.  These,  according  to 
Cean  Bermudez,  were  ordered  of  him  by  a  canon 
named  Don  Justino  Neve,  for  the  church  of  Santa 
Maria  la  Blanca,  at  Seville,  which  accounts  for  their 
semicircular  form ;  they  were  probably  to  be  placed 
in  an  arch.  When  they  were  brought  to  Paris  with 
the  St.  Elizabeth,  in  order  to  make  them  square, 
gilded  angles  were  added  in  which  were  traced 
inscriptions.  The  subject  of  the  two  celebrated 
pendents  is  the  Foundation  of  the  Church  of  Santa 
Maria  Maggiore,  at  Rome,  or  rather  the  miraculous 
event  to  which  its  foundation  is  ascribed.  The  first 
picture  represents  the  dream  of  the  Roman  patrician 
and  his  wife,  whom  Murillo,  notwithstanding  the 
date  of  the  inscription  (A.  D.  852),  dresses  in  the 
costume  of  his  own  time.  Overcome  by  slumber, 
as  if  Morpheus  had  strewn  poppies  over  their  heads, 
they  have  gone  to  sleep  seated  and  dressed  in  their 
apartment.  A  little  lap-dog  is  also  sleeping  on  the 
bottom  of  the  lady's  dress.  White  clouds  become 
visible  in  the  darkness,  and  the  vision  suddenly  ap- 
pears to  the  closed  eyes  of  the  patrician  and  his 
wife,  who  both  behold  the  same  dream — the  Virgin 
standing  with  the  Child  in  her  arms,  pointing  with 
her  finger  to  the  place  where  the  church  dedicated 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  41 

to  her  was  to  be  built.  The  second  pendent  contains 
a  double  subject.  On  the  left  the  patrician  and  his 
wife,  of  the  size  of  life,  are  relating  their  common 
dream  to  the  pope  Liberius,  seated  on  the  ancient 
sella  gestatoria  ;  and  on  the  right  a  long  procession 
in  the  distance  is  on  its  way  to  recognize  and  mark 
the  place  designated  by  Mary  for  the  erection  of 
the  new  church.  These  two  marvellous  pictures, 
or,  at  all  events,  the  whole  of  the  first,  and  the  dis- 
tant procession  in  the  second — that  is  to  say,  the 
parts  treated  in  the  warm  and  aerial  style — are  in 
Murillo's  finest  style,  and  show  to  what  a  height  he 
could  rise  as  a  colorist.  They  are  usually  called 
either  los  Medios  puntos  of  Murillo,  or  the  Miracle  of 
the  Roman  Gentleman.  As  in  the  chef-d'oeuvre  of 
Tintoretto  at  Venice,  I  propose  that  these  two  ap- 
pellations should  be  made  into  one  by  calling 
it  The  Miracle  of  Murillo. 

Murillo,  having  been  far  more  fertile  than  Velaz- 
quez, and  much  sooner  known  out  of  Spain,  has  his 
works  scattered  nearly  all  over  Europe,  even  in  the 
northern  countries.  The  Hermitage  of  St.  Peters- 
burg has  eighteen  works  by  Murillo  on  its  catalogue. 
Without  accepting  all  of  these,  we  may,  at  least, 
mention  a  Conception  beautiful  even  among  so  many 
others,  a  Nativity  which,  in  its  arrangement,  reminds 
us  of  Correggio's  Notte,  and  a  Martyrdom  of  St. 
Peter  of  Verona  worthy,  in  point  of  beauty,  to  be 
compared  with  the  great  works  of  Titian  at  Venice, 
and  of  Domenichino  at  Bologna  on  the  same  subject. 
At  Berlin  there  is  an  Ecstasy  of  St.  Anthony  of  Pa- 
dua,  which,  without  equalling  the  brilliant  chef* 


42  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

d'ceuvre  that  Murillo  left  as  a  last  gift  to  the  cathe- 
dral of  his  native  city,  yet,  at  all  events,  recalls  the 
highest  qualities  of  the  painter  of  Seville.  It  is  in 
his  tender  passionate  style.  Munich  is  still  richer 
in  possessing  excellent  works  in  different  styles.  In 
the  first  place,  St.  Francis  curing  a  Paralytic  at  the 
Door  of  a  Church.  Murillo,  although  the  most 
poetical,  the  most  idealistic,  of  the  Spanish  masters, 
has  seldom  risen  to  such  a  height  of  expression ;  his 
magic  pencil  has  rarely  produced  such  wonders. 
The  action  takes  place  in  the  uncertain  limits  be- 
tween the  gloom  inside  and  the  daylight  outside — an 
excellent  contrast,  but  bold  and,  perhaps,  impossi- 
ble for  any  one  but  Murillo.  Four  other  pictures, 
in  two  series  of  pendents,  belong  to  beggar  life,  to 
the  vida  picaresca,  also  poetical  in  Spain,  as  is 
proved  sufficiently  by  the  Lazarille  de  Tor  mis ,  the 
Guzman  d*  Alfarache,  the  Marcos  de  Obregon,  and  all 
the  romances  of  the  same  family,  which  are  merged 
into  one  in  Gil  -Bias.  These  picturesque  paintings 
present  a  mixture  of  his  warm  and  cold  styles,  and 
it  might  be  said  that  they  belong  to  the  cold  style 
treated  warmly.  But,  under  whatever  class  they 
may  be  ranged,  they  will  always  be  masterpieces  of 
simple,  lively  truth.  Before  these  wonderful  scenes 
of  comedy  in  real  life  we  might  both  laugh  and 
weep. 

A  large  picture,  formerly  an  heirloom  of  the  mar- 
quises of  Pedroso,  at  Cadiz,  has  been  lately  brought 
to  the  National  Gallery  in  London.  It  is  a  Holy 
Family.  I  believe  that  its  true  name  is  rather  a 
Trinity.  In  this  picture,  between  his  mother  and 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  43 

Joseph,  who  are  worshipping  on  their  knees,  the 
Child  Jesus  stands  on  the  broken  shaft  of  a  column, 
gazing  toward  heaven  as  if  wishing  to  leave  earth, 
and  united  in  thought  to  the  two  other  persons  of 
the  Trinity — the  Holy  Spirit,  who,  in  the  form  of  a 
dove,  is  hovering  over  his  head,  and  the  Father,  who 
is  above,  amidst  a  choir  of  seraphim.  I  had  seen 
this  picture  before  it  belonged  to  the  National 
Gallery,  and  in  my  first  enthusiasm  I  had  written 
that  it  was  a  divine  work,  the  finest  by  this  master 
that  had  ever  left  Spain.  Without  retracting  the 
first  praise,  I  confess  that  the  second  might  be  con- 
tested. For  example,  in  the  Duke  of  Sutherland's 
gallery  the  places  of  honor  are  justly  occupied  by 
two  other  large  pictures  by  Murillo,  brought  from 
Seville  to  London  through  the  collection  of  Mar- 
shal Soult — Abraham  receiving  the  Three  Angels,  and 
the  Be'lurn  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  They  have  been 
provided  with  magnificent  frames,  in  which  are  the 
verses  of  Scripture  which  explain  the  subject,  and 
surmounted  by  gilded  busts  of  the  painter  whose 
life  was  so  simple  and  devoid  of  pomp.  The  Prodi- 
gal Son  is,  however,  far  superior  to  the  Abraham. 
The  group  of  the  wretched  and  repentant  son  kneel- 
ing at  the  feet  of  his  noble  and  affectionate  father  ; 
the  group  of  the  servants  hastening  to  bring  food  and 
clothes  ;  even  to  the  little  dog  of  the  family,  who  has 
come  to  recognize  and  caress  the  fugitive,  and  the  fat 
calf  which  is  to  be  killed  for  the  rejoicings  ; — all  is 
great  and  wonderfiil  in  composition,  expression,  and 
incomparable  coloring.  This  Prodigal  Son  deserves, 


44  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

perhaps,  to  be  called  the  greatest  work  of  Murillo 
out  of  Spain. 

Without  having  anything  equal  to  this  in  im- 
portance, the  Museum  of  the  Louvre  would  be  still 
pretty  well  off  if  they  had  not  in  reality  diminished 
the  riches  already  acquired  whilst  they  pretended  to 
have  increased  them.  The  Petit  Pouilleux  and  a  Holy 
Family,  which,  like  the  one  at  the  National  Gallery, 
should  rather  have  been  termed  a  Trinity,  have 
long  been  in  the  Louvre.  It  was  wished  to  add 
fresh  works  of  Murillo's  to  these ;  but  if  the  inten- 
tion was  good,  it  is  the  intention  alone  which  de- 
serves praise.  We  will  not  speak  of  those  enor- 
mous pictures  filled  with  ignoble  restorations  which 
are  called  the  Naissance  de  Marie  and  the  Cuisine  des 
Anges.  They  are  no  less  unworthy  of  the  master 
than  of  the  Louvre.  But  what  need  was  there  of 
another  Conception,  also  bought  with  a  great  com- 
motion and  at  vast  expense  from  the  heirs  of  Mar- 
shal Soult?  Why  have  given  a  more  exorbitant 
price  for  it  than  it  would  ever  have  fetched  at  a  sale 
by  auction  ?  The  fact  of  there  being  so  many  on 
this  subject  should  have  been  a  sufficient  safeguard 
against  such  unreflecting  infatuation,  which  would 
be  incredible  anywhere  but  in  France.  There  was 
already  one  Conception  ;  and  although  the  last  comer 
is  certainly  superior  to  it  in  some  points,  it  is  yet  far 
from  deserving  the  title  of  the  one  at  Seville,  the 
Perla  de  las  Concepciones. 

There  is,  however,  one  of  the  most  perfect  speci- 
mens of  Murillo's  cold  style  in  the  Louvre  that  can 
be  found  anywhere.  This  is  the  Beggar  Soy,  who 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  45 

is  crouching  on  the  stone  floor  of  a  prison  or  of  a 
garret,  between  a  pitcher  and  a  basket  of  fruit,  em- 
ploying his  leisure  time  in  having  a  chase  under  his 
rags,  or,  as  an  old  inventory  says  more  explicitly, 
"  a  detruire  ce  qui  I' incommoded  It  is  sublime  in  its 
triviality.  In  Murillo's  warm  manner  and  higher 
style  there  is  the  large  picture  which,  in  my  opinion, 
should  be  rather  named  a  Trinity  than  a  Holy 
Family.  The  latter  name,  indeed,  as  it  has  been 
employed  since  the  time  of  Raphael,  implies  neither 
the  sight  of  the  opened  heavens,  nor  the  intervention 
of  the  Father  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  actions 
of  the  Son.  Similar  in  subject,  in  general  disposi- 
tion, and  even  in  the  details  and  accessories  to  the 
great  picture  of  the  National  Gallery,  that  of  the 
Louvre  also  equals  it  in  the  breadth  of  imagination, 
which  unites  the  scenes  of  mortal  and  eternal  life 
in  the  majesty  of  the  symbol  announcing  the  redeem- 
ing mission  of  the  Saviour,  and  also  in  the  extreme 
beauty  of  all  the  parts.  But  what  has  become  of 
this  marvellous  Trinity  ?  It  has  disappeared  from 
the  Louvre,  and  it  is  in  vain  to  regret  it.  It  has 
been  placed  as  an  ornament  in  a  sleeping  apartment 
of  the  palace  of  St.  Cloud,  and  is  there  fitted  into 
the  woodwork.  Has  the  national  museum  of  France 
become  once  more  the  cabinet  of  its  kings  ? 

Murillo  left  some  pupils,  such  as  MIGUEL  DE 
TOBAR,  NUNEZ  DE  VILLAVICENCIO,  MENESES  Osomo, 
who  followed  him  from  afar  off  with  servile  imita- 
tion. Not  long  before  his  death,  remembering  the 
obscurity  of  his  youth  and  the  first  occupations  of 
his  pencil,  he  wished  to  smooth  for  his  successors 


46  WONDEBS   OF  PAINTING. 

the  difficulties  at  the  outset  of  their  career  which  he 
had  found  so  difficult  to  overcome.  He  established 
at  Seville  a  free  academy  for  drawing  and  painting, 
of  which  he  was  the  first  director  and  professor  ; 
but  this  academy  came  to  an  end  twenty  years  later 
for  want  of  masters  and  pupils.  Murillo  had  no 
more  followers  after  his  death  than  he  had  rivals 
during  his  life. 

CASTILIAN   SCHOOL. 

This  cannot  be  called  the  school  of  Madrid,  for 
during  the  lifetime  of  the  painters  who  founded  it 
Madrid  did  not  as  yet  exist,  at  least,  not  as  the 
capital  of  the  Spanish  monarchy.  But  after  the 
caprice  of  Philip  II.,  who  fixed  there  his  hitherto 
wandering  and  nomad  court — la  corte — had  raised 
Madrid  to  the  rank  of  a  metropolis,  all  the  dispersed 
elements  of  the  Gastilian  school  soon  assembled 
there.  It  was  at  Valladolid  that  Alonzo  Berruguete 
lived ;  at  Badajoz,  Luis  de  Morales  ;  at  Logroiio,  in 
the  Rioja,  Juan  Fernandez  Navarrete,  el  Mudo  ;  at 
Toledo,  Domenico  Theotocopuli,  el  Greco.  We  must 
not  pass  these  earlier  masters  by  without,  at  least, 
a  short  mention. 

If  ALONZO  BERRUGUETE  (1480—1561),  who  culti- 
vated painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture,  had  dis- 
played in  the  first  of  these  arts  the  eminent  qualities 
which  he  manifested  in  the  second,  if  he  had  been 
as  great  a  painter  as  he  was  in  general  a  great  artist, 
he  would  have  had  the  honor  of  being  the  first  to 
spread  through  his  country  the  high  notions  of  art 
he  had  acquired  in  Italy.  He  had,  at  first,  studied 


CASTILIAN    SCHOOL.  47 

directly  under  Michael  Angelo,  at  Florence,  where 
he  copied  the  famous  cartoon  of  the  Pisan  War ; 
then  at  Home,  where  he  assisted  his  master  in  the 
great  works  at  the  Vatican,  ordered  by  Julius  II. 
On  his  return  to  Spain,  he  scarcely  painted  anything 
but  altar-screens  for  churches,  which  require  a  union 
of  the  three  arts.  His  painting  is  cold  and  dry,  but 
determined  and  expressive.  His  architecture  has 
the  defects  and  good  qualities  of  that  of  Spain  at 
this  period — smallness  and  confusion  in  the  whole, 
grace  and  delicacy  in  the  details.  In  sculpture 
alone  does  he  show  himself  a  worthy  disciple  of  bis 
illustrious  master,  whose  lessons  he  transmitted  to 
Gaspar  Becerra,  who,  although  painter  to  Philip  II. 
and  author  of  a  great  number  of  works,  was  only 
great  in  statuary.  His  Madonna  of  Solitude  is 
probably  the  masterpiece  of  Spanish  sculpture. 

There  is  one  painter  whom  universal  admiration  has 
saluted  by  the  title  divine.  This  is  Raphael.  In 
Spain,  one  painter  also  has  received  this  magnificent 
surname.  But  with  him,  it  was  not  a  universal  cry 
of  admiration  which  thus  proclaimed  his  merit  and 
superiority  :  it  was,  simply,  his  too  great  fastidious- 
ness in  the  choice  of  his  subjects,  which  always  bore 
the  imprint  of  an  ardent  piety.  This  name  has 
been,  I  confess,  in  some  respects,  a  misfortune  to 
him ;  all  the  pictures  of  his  time  which  have  the 
slightest  analogy  with  his  style  are  attributed  to  him. 
When  any  one  meets  with  an  Ecce  Homo,  dry, 
lean,  and  livid  ;  a  Mater  dolorosa  with  hollow  cheeks, 
pale  lips,  red  eyelids  ;  even  if  it  be  a  horrible  cari- 
cature, he  exclaims  at  once  :  "  There  is  a  divine 


48  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

Morales  !"  Those  who  have  examined  his  fine  works 
attentively  are  not  so  prodigal  of  their  author's 
name.  His  pictures,  frequently  painted  on  copper 
or  wood,  are  generally  very  small  and  simple  ;  the 
most  complicated  are  those  of  a  Madonna  support- 
ing a  Dead  Christ.  There  are  some  works,  however, 
of  Morales  in  which  there  are  whole  personages, 
such  as  the  six  large  paintings  of  the  Passion, 
which  decorate  the  church  of  a  small  town  in  Estre- 
madura,  Higuera  de  Eregenal.  Madrid  has  only 
succeeded  in  collecting  five  works  by  his  hand, 
which  proves  that  they  are  rare,  when  authentic. 
The  Circumcision  is  the  largest,  and  seems  to  me  to 
be  the  best  of  the  five.  If  Morales  has  the  defects 
common  to  his  period ;  if  he  is  minute  in  the  exe- 
cution of  the  beard  and  hair ;  if  he  may  be  accused 
of  too  much  hardness  in  the  outlines  and  too  little 
relief  in  the  model ;  we  must,  at  all  events,  acknow- 
ledge that  he  drew  with  care  and  correctness,  that 
he  understood  the  anatomy  of  his  nudes,  and  ren- 
dered faithfully  the  fine  gradations  of  demitints. 
He  excelled  also  in  the  expression  of  religious  grief, 
and  no  one  has  succeeded  better  than  he  in  paint- 
ing the  agonies  of  our  Lord  when  crowned  with 
thorns,  or  of  a  Virgin  pierced  with  the  seven  swords 
of  grief. 

EL  MUDO  (JUAN  FERNANDEZ  NAVARRETE,  about 
1526 — 1579),  is  one  of  the  most  striking  proofs  of 
the  power  of  natural  taste,  and  of  its  constant 
superiority  to  what  can  be  produced  by  education. 
If  the  Eoman  rhetorician  was  right  in  asserting  that 
a  poet  must  be  born  a  poet,  El  Mudo  has  shown 


CASTILIAN    SCHOOL.  49 

that  a  painter  must  be  one  from  his  birth.  Deprived 
of  the  usual  means  of  communicating  with  other 
men,  and  kept  back  by  the  circumstances  surround- 
ing him,  he  yet  succeeded  in  accomplishing  his 
destiny,  merely  by  following  the  natural  bent  of  his 
nature.  When  about  three  years  old,  a  severe  illness 
deprived  him  of  his  hearing,  and,  like  those  who 
are  deaf  from  their  birth,  he  was  unable  to  learn  to 
speak. 

At  this  time,  the  Spanish  monk,  Frey  Pedro  de 
Ponce,  who  preceded  by  such  a  long  time  the  Abbe 
de  1'Epee,*  had  not  yet  essayed  the  education  of 
deaf-mutes.  Nothing  was  taught  to  Juan  during 
his  infancy  ;  but  soon  he  revealed  his  true  vocation, 
for  he  was  constantly  occupied  in  drawing  on  the 
walls  with  charcoal  every  object  that  he  saw  around 
him.  His  natural  talent  was  shown  so  clearly  in 
these  rough  sketches,  that  his  father  took  him  to  the 
convent  of  La  Estrella,  at  a  short  distance  from 
Logrono,  where  one  of  the  monks  understood  paint- 
ing. This  monk  became  much  attached  to  the 
young  mute;  he  taught  him  the  first  elements  of 
art,  and,  soon  finding  his  pupil  make  such  progress 
that  he  could  no  longer  follow  him,  he  persuaded 
his  parents  to  send  him  to  Italy. 

El  Mudo,  whose  family  was  very  well  off,  soon 
started  for  the  land  of  the  arts.  He  visited  Borne, 
Naples,  Florence,  Venice,  and  settled  down  near 

*  It  was  about  the  year  1570  that  Frey  Pedro  de  Ponce,  a  Bene- 
dictine monk  of  the  convent  of  Ona,  found  means  to  instruct  the 
two  brothers  and  the  sister  of  the  Constable  of  Castile,  all  three 
born  deaf. 


50  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

Titian,  whose  disciple  lie  became.  His  residence  in 
Italy  was  long — twenty  years  at  the  least.  When 
his  reputation,  already  great,  and  doubtless  in- 
creased by  the  fact  of  his  infirmity,  reached  Spain, 
Philip  II.,  who  was  beginning  the  decorations  of 
the  Escurial,  sent  for  him  to  come  to  Spain.  It  was 
at  the  Escurial  that  El  Mudo  completed  his  princi- 
pal work,  a  series  of  eight  large  pictures,  some  of 
which  have  since  perished  in  a  fire.  Amongst  those 
which  were  preserved  may  be  mentioned,  a  Nativity, 
in  which  El  Mudo  undertook  to  vanquish  a  formid- 
able difficulty  :  he  introduced  three  different  lights 
into  his  picture  ;  one  which  proceeds  from  the  Holy 
Child,  another  which  descends  from  the  glory  and 
extends  over  the  whole  picture,  and  a  third  from  a 
torch  held  by  St.  Joseph.  The  group  of  shepherds 
is  the  best  part  of  the  composition.  It  is  said  that 
the  Florentine  painter,  Perigrino  Tibaldi,  never 
wearied  of  admiring  them,  and  was  continually 
calling  out  in  his  enthusiasm  :  Oh!  gli  belli pastori ! 
This  exclamation  has  become  the  title  of  the  picture, 
which  is  called  the  Beautiful  Shepherds.  The  works 
of  El  Mudo  are  scarcely  known  at  all,  for  those 
which  still  exist  are  buried  in  the  royal  solitude  of 
the-Escurial,  and  are  now  almost  inaccessible.  We 
must,  then,  be  satisfied  with  hearing  that  he  was 
unanimously  called  the  Spanish  Titian,  not  only 
because  he  was  one  of  the  favorite  pupils  of  that 
master,  but  also  because  his  works  were  worthy  of 
being  compared  with  those  of  the  greatest  Venetian 
master. 
Another  pupil,  or  fellow  disciple,  of  Titian,  was 


CASTILIAN    SCHOOL.  51 

the  founder  of  the  school  of  Toledo.  His  name  was 
DOMENICO  THEOTOCOFULI  ;  he  was  born  in  Greece, 
it  is  not  known  when  or  where  ;  he  studied  at 
Venice,  where  he  was  surnamed  El  Greco  (the 
Spaniards  would  have  called  him  El  Griego),  and, 
through  singular  circumstances,  came  to  settle  at 
Toledo,  about  1577.  He  became  known  there  by  a 
large  picture  of  the  Stripping  of  Christ,  quite  Vene- 
tian in  its  character ;  soon  after,  changing  his  style, 
he  adopted  a  pale  greyish  coloring,  which  makes  all 
the  personages  appear  as  so  many  ghosts  and 
shadows  ;  in  short,  he  adopted  an  unwholesome  sin- 
gularity of  style,  which  extended  even  to  the  shape 
of  his  pictures,  which  were  made  far  too  long. 
However,  instead  of  good  paintings,  he  left  pupils 
better  than  himself — for  example,  Luis  TRISTAN, 
whom  Velazquez  studied  with  advantage  after  his 
two  masters  at  Seville,  and  the  monk  FRAY  JUAN 
BAUTISTA  MAYNO,  who  taught  drawing  to  Philip  IV., 
and  succeeded  in  making  his  pupil  a  passionate  lover 
of  the  arts. 

As  soon  as  Philip  II.  had  fixed  his  court  at 
Madrid  there  appeared  also  in  that  town  the  painter 
ALONZO  SANCHEZ  COELLO  (  ?  -1590),  who  was  not 
only  the  pintor  de  camera  to  the  son  of  Charles  V., 
but  also  one  of  his  intimate  courtiers  [d  privado  del 
rey).  Pacheco  says,  that  "  the  king  gave  him  for 
his  lodging  an  immense  house  near  the  palace,  and 
as  he  had  a  key  to  it  .  .  .  he  often  entered  at  inop- 
portune moments  into  the  painter's  apartments; 
sometimes  he  came  in  when  he  was  at  dinner  with 
his  family  .  .  .  ;  at  others,  he  surprised  him  when 


52  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

painting,  and  approaching  him  from  behind  laid 
his  hand  upon  his  shoulder.  .  .  Sanchez  Coello 
several  times  painted  the  king's  portrait,  armed,  on 
foot,  on  horseback,  in  travelling  garments,  in  a  cloak 
and  with  a  cap.  He  also  painted  seventeen  royal 
persons,  queens,  princes,  and  infantas,  who  honored 
him  so  much  as  to  enter  his  house  familiarly  to  play 
with  his  wife  and  children.  .  .  His  house  was  fre- 
quented by  the  greatest  persons  of  the  time,  Cardi- 
nal Granvelle,  the  archbishop  of  Toledo,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Seville,  arid,  what  was  a  still  greater 
honor,  Don  John  of  Austria,  Don  Carlos,  and  such 
numbers  of  nobles  and  ambassadors  that,  many 
times,  horses,  litters,  coaches,  and  chairs,  filled  the 
^two  large  courts  of  his  house."  Sanchez  Coello 
also  painted  several  pictures  on  sacred  history  for 
different  altars  in  the  Escurial,  and  also  the  portrait 
of  the  celebrated  founder  of  the  order  of  the 
Jesuits,  Ignatius  Loyola.  This  portrait,  which  is 
said  to  have  been  much  like  him,  was  painted  after 
his  death  from  a  cast  of  the  face  taken  in  wax. 
Coello  was  also  aided  by  the  advice  of  one  of  the 
pupils  of  Loyola. 

PANTOJA  DE  LA  Cnuz,  the  pupil  of  Coello,  held 
the  same  position  under  Philip  III.  that  his  master 
had  done  under  Philip  II.  He  also  has  left  a  gal- 
lery of  portraits,  even  in  his  historical  pictures. 
Thus  the  Birth  of  the  Virgin  and  the  Birth  of  Christ, 
which  are  in  the  Museo  del  Bey,  contain  the  por- 
traits of  Philip  III.,  his  wife  Margaret  of  Austria, 
their  nearest  relations,  and  some  gentlemen  and 
ladies  of  the  court.  It  was  at  this  period  that  three 


CASTILIAN    SCHOOL.  53 

families  of  artists,  all  natives  of  Tuscany,  came  to 
settle  at  Madrid.  These  were  the  Eicci,  the  Cajesi, 
and  the  Carducci,  which  names  were,  by  the  Span- 
iards, turned  into  Rizi,  Caxes,  and  Carducho.  We 
must  grant  a  separate  mention  to  one  member  of  the 
latter  family. 

VICENCIO  CARDUCHO  was  brought  to  Spain,  whilst 
still  a  child,  by  his  elder  brother,  whose  pupil  he  was, 
and  died  at  Alcala  de  Henares  when  painting  a  St. 
Jerome,  which  bears  this  inscription, "  Vincensius  Car- 
duclio  hie  vitam  non  opus  finiit,  1638."  He  has  left 
Dialogues  on  Painting,  much  esteemed  by  competent 
judges,  and  such  numerous  works  of  his  pencil  as 
prove  that  his  imagination  was  as  fertile  as  his  hand 
was  industrious.  In  the  Museo  Nacional,  opened  at 
Madrid  in  1842,  to  complete  the  Museo  del  Key  with 
the  spoils  of  the  suppressed  convents,  are  the  greater 
number  of  the  works  which  Carducho  executed  for 
one  of  the  largest  orders  recorded  in  the  history  of 
art.  The  Carthusian  convent  of  the  Paular  had 
intrusted  him  with  the  entire  decoration  of  the  large 
cloister.  He  was  to  represent  the  Life  of  St.  Bruno, 
the  founder  of  the  order,  and  the  Martyrdoms  and 
Mirades  of  the  Carthusians.  By  a  contract  of  August 
26th,  1626,  between  the  prior  and  the  painter,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  latter  should  deliver  fifty-five  pictures 
in  the  space  of  four  years,  fourteen  every  year,  all  of 
them  to  be  painted  entirely  by  himself,  and  the 
price  to  be  fixed  by  competent  judges.  This  singular 
contract  was  punctually  executed.  Four  years  later, 
the  convent  of  the  Paular  possessed  the  fifty-five 
paintings  ordered  of  Carducho.  On  one  side  twen- 


54  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

ty-seven  pictures  describing  the  different  events  in 
the  life  of  St.  Bruno,  from  his  conversion  to  his 
funeral,  and  on  the  opposite  side  twenty-seven  other 
pictures  of  the  martyrdoms  and  miracles  of  the 
monks  belonging  to  the  order ;  in  the  centre  is  a 
sort  of  trophy  uniting  the  arms  of  the  king  and  that 
of  the  Carthusians.  Cean  Bermudez  speaks  of  hav- 
ing passed  a  fortnight  at  Paular  in  order  to  examine 
at  his  leisure  these  works  of  Carducho,  and  he 
affirms  that  in  this  long  series  of  paintings  of  uni- 
form size,  where  monotony  would  appear  to  be  in- 
evitable, we  have,  on  the  contrary,  to  admire  a  great 
fertility  of  invention,  and  a  skillful  arrangement  of 
the  various  groups  and  scenes.  We  accept  this 
eulogy,  which  is  not  exaggerated,  but  must  at  the 
same  time  declare  our  opinion  that  this  Life  of  St. 
Bruno — more  important  than  that  by  Eustache 
Lesueur  in  the  size  and  number  of  the  pictures — is, 
however,  not  equal  to  that  in  true  grandeur  of  style 
and  execution. 

At  last  Velazquez  appeared.  It  was  at  the  time 
when  Philip  IV.  ascended  the  throne.  This  great 
painter — the  greatest  of  all  the  Spanish  masters — 
who  is  usually  called  DIEGO  VELAZQUEZ  DE  SILVA, 
should,  according  to  the  custom  of  his  country,  have 
been  named  Don  Diego  Rodriguez  de  Silva  y  Ve- 
lazquez, for  his  father's  name  was  Juan  Rodriguez 
de  Silva,  and  his  mother  Geronima  Velazquez.  It 
is  his  mother's  name  which  he  has  retained.  He 
was  born  at  Seville,  and  was  baptized  there  June 
6th,  1599.  We  have  already  seen  that,  when  his 
classical  studies  were  completed,  he  had  two  masters 


CASTILIAN  SCHOOL.  55 

so  opposite  in  style  as  were  Herrera  el  Viejo  and 
Francisco  Pacheco.  We  also  know  already  that  he 
soon  chose  a  third  master,  and  studied  incessantly 
from  nature.  The  course  and  character  of  his  studies 
are  no  less  curious  to  notice  than  good  to  follow. 
He  set  himself  to  copy  with  scrupulous  fidelity  all 
the  objects  that  could  be  offered  by  nature  for  the 
imitation  of  art,  from  inanimate  objects  to  man, 
taking  in  his  course  plants,  fishes,  birds,  and  animals. 
It  was  thus  that  he  obtained  the  wonderful  truthful- 
ness which  is  the  principal  characteristic  of  his 
style.  Having  through  these  natural  stages  at  last 
come  to  painting  men,  Velazquez  also  studied  sep- 
arately the  different  parts  of  the  human  body,  and 
the  passions  which  actuate  it.  Pacheco,  in  his  Arie 
de  la  Pintura,  says,  "  He  kept  in  his  pay  a  peasant 
boy  as  an  apprentice,  who  served  him  for  a  model 
in  all  sorts  of  action,  and  in  various  attitudes — 
sometimes  laughing,  sometimes  crying.  From  him 
he  executed  many  heads  in  charcoal,  heightened 
with  white  on  blue  paper,  and  many  others  com- 
pletely colored,  by  which  means  he  acquired  his  cer- 
tainty in  portraits." 

Velazquez  must  have  seen,  even  at  Seville,  several 
paintings  from  Italy  and  Flanders  ;  he  also  saw 
there  the  works  of  Luis  Tristan,  of  Toledo,  whose 
taste  he  admired.  It  was  then  that  he  felt  the 
necessity  of  going  to  Madrid  to  study  the  works  of 
the  masters  of  his  art.  Pacheco  had  then  just  given 
him  the  hand  of  his  daughter  Dona  Juana,  "  moved:,'' 
as  Pacheco  himself  says,  "  by  his  virtue,  his  purity, 
and  his  good  parts,  as  well  as  by  the  hopes  derived 


56  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

from  his  great  genius."  Velazquez  started  for  Mad- 
rid in  the  spring  of  1622,  when  twenty- three  years 
of  age,  and  there  studied  hard  in  the  rich  collections 
of  the  palaces  of  Madrid  and  the  Escurial.  The 
next  year  he  returned  to  that  city,  being  summoned 
this  time  by  the  Count-Duke  of  Olivarez.  Pacheco 
accompanied  his  son-in-law  in  this  second  journey, 
feeling  sure  that  glory  and  fortune  awaited  him  at 
court.  And,  indeed,  his  first  pictures  showed  what 
he  could  do.  Philip  IV.  ordered  a  portrait  of  him- 
self, with  which  he  was  so  delighted,  that  he  imme- 
diately collected  and  caused  to  be  destroyed  all  the 
portraits  that  had  yet  been  taken  of  him,  and  he 
named  Velazquez  his  private  painter  (pintor  de 
cdmara).  To  this  title  was  added  later  those  of 
usher  of  the  chamber  (ugier  de  cdmara),  and  of 
aposentador  mayor.  His  salary,  fixed  at  first  at 
twenty  ducats  a  month,  was  raised  by  degrees  to  a 
thousand  ducats  a  year,  without  counting  the  price 
of  his  works.  Besides  this,  Velazquez  was  admitted 
to  intimacy  with  the  king,  and  was  counted  all  the 
remainder  of  his  life  among  those  courtiers  who 
were  called  privados  del  rey.  It  was  amongst  these 
friends,  and  in  the  cultivation  of  arts  and  letters, 
that  Philip  IV.  consoled  himself  for  his  political 
disgrace  after  having  lost  Koussillon,  Flanders, 
Portugal,  and  Catalonia.  When  he  first  ascended 
the  throne  he  had  allowed  himself  to  be  surnamed 
the  Great,  but  soon  it  was  said  that  his  emblem  was 
a  ditch  with  this  motto,  "  The  more  is  taken  from  it 
the  greater  it  becomes." 

The  royal  favor  changed  neither  the  benevolent 


CASTILIAN  SCHOOL.  67 

character  of  Velazquez,  his  austere  morality,  nor  his 
ardent  love  of  work.  When  Eubens  came  to  Mad- 
rid in  1628,  he  visited  the  young  portrait  painter, 
and  recognizing  the  whole  power  of  a  genius  which 
had  not  yet  learned  to  know  itself,  he  encouraged 
him  to  treat  larger  subjects,  though  he,  at  the  same 
time,  advised  him  to  go  to  Italy  first,  in  order  to 
study  the  great  masters.  This  advice  of  the  learned 
foreigner  quite  decided  Velazquez.  The  following 
year  he  set  out  for  Venice,  where  he  studied  Titian, 
Tintoretto,  and  Paul  Veronese ;  then  he  went  to 
Home,  where  he  copied  a  large  part  of  the  Last 
Judgment,  by  Michael  Angelo,  the  School  of  Athens, 
by  Raphael,  and  other  works  of  these  two  great 
rivals  in  fame.  After  more  than  a  year  occupied 
with  these  labors  done  in  retirement,  and  after 
having  visited  Naples  and  his  fellow  countryman 
Eibera,  he  returned  to  Madrid,  in  1631,  with  his 
talent  ripened  and  matured.  Of  this  he  brought 
with  him  a  striking  proof  in  the  pictures  named 
Jacob  with  the  Garment  of  Joseph,  and  Apollo  at  the 
Forge  of  Vulcan.  The  artist's  works  received  a 
splendid  welcome  at  the  court,  and  Velazquez  from 
that  time  occupied  without  dispute  the  first  rank 
among  the  painters  of  his  country.  He  remained 
seventeen  years  in  his  studio,  where  Philip  IV.  used 
to  visit  him  familiarly  nearly  every  day.  A  com- 
mission given  him  by  this  prince  for  the  purchase 
of  some  works  of  art  caused  Velazquez  to  return  to 
Italy  in  1648.  He  could  then  visit  Florence,  Bolog- 
na, and  Parma,  where  he  was  attracted  by  the  works 
of  Correggio.  On  his  return  to  Madrid,  Velazquez 


58  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

continued  his  labors  peacefully  until  1660.  But  in 
the  month  of  March  of  that  year  he  had  to  go  to 
Irun  in  his  office  of  aposentador  mayor,  when  Philip 
IV.  conducted  his  daughter  Maria  Theresa  to  Louis 
XIV.,  who  came  to  the  frontier  to  receive  his  royal 
bride.  It  was  Velazquez  who  prepared  the  pavilion 
in  the  Isle  of  Pheasants,  where  the  two  kings  were 
to  meet.  The  fatigues  of  this  journey  injured  his 
already  declining  health.  He  returned  to  Madrid 
ill,  and  died  there  on  the  7th  of  August,  1660,  when 
sixty-one  years  of  age.  His  widow  survived  him 
only  seven  days. 

After  this  rapid  sketch  of  his  life,  we  pass  to  the 
works  of  Velazquez. 

Sixty-four  paintings  by  him  are  now  collected  in 
the  Museo  del  Key,  and  in  this  number  are  included 
all  the  principal  ones  ;  that  is  to  say,  except  a  very 
few  carried  out  of  Spain  either  as  royal  gifts  or  as 
the  spoils  of  war,  the  whole  works  of  Velazquez  are 
in  this  museum.  This  kind  of  condensation  is  easy 
to  understand.  We  have  only  to  remember  the  way 
in  which  Philip  IV.,  his  friend,  who  had  only  just 
ascended  the  throne  when  Velazquez  came  to  Mad- 
rid, and  who  survived  him  by  several  years,  acquired 
successively  all  the  pictures  that  came  from  a  stu- 
dio forming  a  part  of  the  palace,  and  painted  by  an 
artist  employed  by  the  royal  family.  The  whole  of 
the  works  of  Velazquez,  then,  have  remained  the 
property  of  the  crown  of  Spain.  This  circumstance, 
by  showing  why  so  few  of  this  master's  works  have 
left  Spain,  also  explains  how  it  was  that  he  remained 
so  long  completely  unknown  beyond  his  own  country, 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  59 

Until  the  Museo  del  Key  was  opened  the  name  of 
Velazquez  had  scarcely  crossed  the  Pyrenees,  and 
when  I  endeavored,  in  1834,  to  make  this  rich 
museum  known  in  France,  I  had  the  honor  of  being 
the  first  foreigner  who  fully  appreciated  and  ren- 
dered justice  to  the  great  Spaniard. 

Velazquez  has  tried  every  style,  and  succeeded  in 
all.  He  has  painted  with  equal  success  history 
(profane,  at  least),  portraits,  both  on  foot  and  on 
horsebaok,  men  and  women,  children  and  old  men, 
historical  landscapes,  and  copies  from  others, 
animals,  interiors,  flowers  and  fruits.  We  will  nei- 
ther notice  his  small  dining-room  pictures  (bodegones), 
nor  his  little  domestic  scenes  in  the  Flemish  style. 
Whatever  may  be  the  merit  of  these  works,  they 
can  only  be  looked  on  either  as  the  studies  of  a 
conscientious  student,  who  does  not  wish  to  neglect 
any  of  the  objects  that  art  borrows  from  nature,  or 
as  the  productions  of  various  design  of  a  universal 
genius  who  feels  his  strength  and  wishes  to  prove  it. 
The  most  celebrated  landscapes  of  Velazques,  at  all 
events  at  Madrid,  are  a  View  of  Aranjuez  and  a 
View  of  Par  do.  But  inanimate  nature  is  not  suffi- 
cient for  him.  He  animates  it  in  such  a  manner 
that  it  is  no  longer  merely  a  theatre  for  the  scenes 
placed  in  it.  In  painting  the  wild  woods  of  the 
Pardo,  he  introduces  a  boar  hunt,  where  dogs, 
horses,  and  men  are  all  in  motion.  When  painting 
the  gravelled  gardens  of  Aranjuez  he  chooses  the 
Queens  Walk,  which  from  that  time  down  to  our 
own  has  retained  the  distinction  of  being  the  fashion- 
able promenade,  and  the  picture  thus  becomes  a 


60  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

kind  of  memoir  which  records  the  habits  of  society 
at  that  time  in  the  thousand  occurrences  of  a  court 
promenade. 

Amongst  his  historical  landscapes  I  shall  mention 
the  Visit  of  St.  Antony  to  St.  Paul  the  Hermit.  In  a 
dreary  solitude  of  the  Thebaide  these  scenes  are  re- 
presented :  that  on  the  right  represents  the  stranger 
knocking  at  the  door  of  the  cell  which  the  hermit 
has  hollowed  out  of  the  rock  ;  in  the  centre,  the  two 
old  men,  engaged  in  holy  conference,  are  receiving 
the  double  allowance  of  bread  brought  by  the  raven  ; 
on  the  left  St.  Antony  is  seen  praying  over  the 
corpse  of  Paul,  whilst  two  lions  are  digging  with 
their  claws  the  grave  of  the  deceased  hermit.  Ex- 
cepting for  the  fact  of  there  being  several  scenes  in 
the  same  picture,  which  is  no  longer  allowed,  this 
painting  might  be  considered  a  real  masterpiece, 
nothing  could  be  finer  than  the  beautiful  horror  of 
the  desert,  unless,  indeed,  it  is  the  expression  of 
those  two  venerable  faces,  and  the  actions  of  the 
miraculous  servants.  For  the  rest  this  landscape, 
like  all  those  of  Velazquez,  is  painted  on  a  system 
totally  opposite  to  that  of  other  great  painters  from 
nature,  Claude  or  Euysdael  for  example,  whose 
works  must  be  looked  at  closely — almost  with  a 
magnifying  glass.  Velazquez,  more  like  Kubens  or 
Rembrandt  in  works  of  a  similar  character,  threw 
on  the  coloring  with  bold  strokes  of  his  brush :  the 
canvas  is  scarcely  covered  ;  the  outlines  of  objects 
are  undefined  ;  earth,  trees,  and  sky,  all  are  in  gene- 
ralities, and  without  details.  If  we  approach  too 
curiously,  the  eye  only  sees  something  like  the 


CASTILIAN    SCHOOL.  61 

decorations  of  a  theatre — uncertainty,  confusion 
and  chaos.  But  if  we  draw  back  a  few  steps,  the 
darkness  is  dissipated,  the  beings  take  life,  the 
world  is  created  anew,  and  we  behold  nature  in  her 
true  colors. 

In  portrait  painting  Velazquez  shares  the  glory 
of  Titian,  Van  Dyck,  and  Rembrandt.  He  has  sur- 
passed all  his  fellow  countrymen,  and  is  scarcely 
equalled  by  his  great  rivals  in  other  schools.  No- 
thing can  surpass  his  skill  in  depicting  the  human 
form,  or  his  boldness  in  seizing  it  under  its  most 
difficult  aspects :  for  example,  the  equestrian  por- 
trait of  his  royal  friend  Philip  IV.  He  has  placed 
him  in  the  midst  of  an  open  country,  standing  out 
against  a  boundless  horizon,  lighted  by  a  Spanish 
sun,  without  a  single  shadow,  half-light,  or  contrast 
of  any  description.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this  bold 
neglect  of  all  the  artificial  assistance  of  art,  he  has 
attained  the  greatest  possible  degree  of  illusion. 
He  has  imprinted  on  his  canvas  all  the  character- 
istics of  life.  The  position  and  harmony  of  the 
limbs,  as  well  as  the  whole  attitude  of  the  body,  is 
perfect.  The  hair  seems  almost  to  be  moved  by 
the  wind,  the  blood  to  circulate  under  the  trans- 
parent skin,  the  eyes  to  look  out  from  the  picture, 
and  the  mouth  to  be  about  to  speak.  Indeed,  the 
illusion,  when  we  have  studied  the  picture  for  some 
time,  seems  to  be  almost  alarming.  It  is  before 
such  pictures  that  the  imagination  can  call  up  the 
men  of  another  time,  and  renew  the  miracle  of 
Pygmalion. 

What  I  have  said  of  the  portrait  of  Philip  IV. 


62  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

might  be  repeated  of  all  those  by  Velazquez.  The 
same  admiration  is  excited  by  the  other  portraits  of 
Philip  IV.  either  in  full-length,  or  merely  heads, 
and  also  by  those  of  the  queens  Elizabeth  of  France 
and  Marianne  of  Austria,  the  young  Infanta  Mar- 
garet and  the  Infante  Don  Baltazar,  sometimes 
proudly  handling  an  arquebus  of  his  own  height,  or 
else  galloping  on  a  spirited  Andalusian  pony.  The 
count-duke  of  Olivarez,  another  protector  of  the 
artist,  is  represented  on  horseback  and  clothed  in 
armor ;  but  in  this  portrait,  besides  an  equal  amount 
of  .resemblance  and  life,  there  is  also  an  energy  and 
commanding  grandeur  which  the  painter  could  not 
give  to  the  indolent  monarch.  Almost  all  the  por- 
traits by  Velazquez  that  have  been  preserved  in  the 
museum  at  Madrid  are  of  historical  personages. 
Amongst  them  are  the  Marquis  of  Pescara,  the  Al- 
calde Eonquillo,  and  the  pirate  Barbarossa.*  At 
last  he  reached  caricature  when  he  painted  some 
dwarfs — the  male  very  thin  and  the  female  enor- 
mously stout — a  sort  of  domestic  animal,  which  gave 
great  delight  to  the  royal  children. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  I  must  be  allowed  one 
remark  somewhat  beyond  the  proper  limits  of  my 
subject.  One  cannot  fail  to  be  struck,  when  looking 
at  the  portraits  of  a  series  of  these  kings  of  the 
Austrian  dynasty  in  Spain,  from  the  Charles  V.,  by 
Titian,  to  the  Charles  II.,  of  Carreno,  with  the 
singular  degradation  of  the  physical  forms,  agreeing 

*  These  are  called  portraits,  but  they  are  in  reality  simple 
studies.  Pescara  and  Ronquillo  died  before  the  time  of  Velazquez, 
and  certainly  Barbarossa  could  never  have  sat  to  him. 


CASTILIAN    SCHOOL.  63 

so  well  with  the  degradation  of  intellect.  In  this 
dynasty  of  five  kings  there  are  the  same  features, 
but  descending  by  degrees  from  the  expression  of 
genius  to  that  of  stupid  vacancy,  as  in  the  ingenious 
scale  where  the  face  of  the  Pythian  Apollo  is  gradu- 
ally changed  into  that  of  a  frog.  Charles  V.  has  a 
high  full  forehead,  a  penetrating  eye,  a  firmly-cut 
nose,  a  wide  and  short  chin,  and  a  proud  and  dis- 
dainful under  lip.  In  Charles  II.  all  these  features, 
although  still  the  same,  are  lengthened,  drawn  back, 
and  dulled.  The  forehead  is  low  and  narrow,  the 
eye  dull,  the  nose  hangs  down  like  a  swollen  gland 
from  the  forehead  to  the  mouth,  the  lip  hangs  over 
the  jaw,  and  the  jaw  over  the  stomach.  Clearer 
proofs  could  not  be  found  of  the  degradation  of  a 
race.  We  see  in  Charles  V.  a  great  amount  of  pene- 
tration, calm  strength,  obstinate  activity ;  in  Philip 
II.  jealous  suspicion,  a  will  still  strong  and  obstinate, 
but  cunning,  tortuous,  and  vindictive  ;  in  Philip  III. 
a  desire  for  a  will,  but  uncertain,  insufficient,  and 
without  the  power  ;  in  Philip  IV.  careless  weakness  ; 
in  Charles  II.  imbecility.  It  is  thus  that  painting 
assists  history. 

To  return  to  Velazquez.  Unlike  the  Italians  and 
all  his  fellow-countrymen,  he  did  not  like  to  treat 
sacred  subjects.  They  require  less  an  exact  imita- 
tion of  nature — in  which  he  excelled — than  a  depth 
of  thought,  a  warmth  of  sentiment,  and  an  ideality 
of  expression.  Velazquez  did  not  feel  at  his  ease 
amongst  angels  or  saints,  he  required  men.  He  has 
consequently  left  scarcely  any  picture  on  sacred 
history.  There  are  two  in  the  museum  at  Madrid, 


64  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

the  only  ones,  I  believe,  in  his  whole  works — the 
Martyrdom  of  St.  Stephen  and  a  Crucifixion.  The 
former  of  these  pictures,  inferior  in  its  style  to  that 
by  Joanes,  is  only  redeemed  by  its  details.  In  it 
we  feel,  however,  the  true  vocation  of  Velazquez, 
for,  among  the  numerous  personages  in  the  terrible 
drama,  it  is  not  the  hero  who  concentrates  our  at- 
tention, but  a  child — "  that  age  has  no  pity  " — who 
comes  after  the  executioners  to  throw  his  stone  at 
the  prostrate  martyr.  The  Crucifixion  is  far  superior. 
Christ  is  the  only  figure  in  the  whole  picture.  No 
other  object  distracts  the  attention,  the  falling  night 
conceals  the  rest  of  nature  from  sight.  The  pale 
form  of  the  dead  Christ  stands  out  from  the  dark 
background.  We  should  admire  the  form,  which  is 
extremely  beautiful,  if  our  mind  could  preserve  a 
terrestrial  thought  before  such  a  sight,  but  we  are 
filled  by  higher  emotions.  The  blood  is  flowing 
from  the  hands  and  feet  of  Jesus,  who  is  fastened 
by  nails  to  the  cross  of  shame.  His  head  is  leaning 
forward,  and  from  the  crown  of  thorns  which  still 
encircles  it  the  hair  falls  in  bloody  locks,  which  veil 
the  closed  eyes,  and  cover  the  whole  countenance 
with  a  mournful  shadow.  No  painter,  perhaps,  has 
ever  imparted  a  more  profound  melancholy,  or  a 
more  solemn  majesty,  to  the  death  of  the  Saviour. 

As  for  the  profane  pictures,  genre  paintings  in 
their  subjects,  but  historical  ones  by  their  dimen- 
sions and  style,  they  are  sufficiently  numerous  to 
satisfy  the  eager  curiosity  of  the  admirers  of  Velaz- 
quez. There  are  five  principal  ones  in  the  museum 
at  Madrid.  I  shall  endeavor  to  analyze  these  in  a 


CASTILIAN   SCHOOL.  65 

few  words.  That  which  is  called  Las  Hilanderas 
(The  Spinners)  shows  the  interior  of  a  manufactory. 
In  an  immense  room,  only  dimly  lighted  in  the 
hottest  time  of  the  day,  workwomen,  half-naked,  are 
occupied  with  the  different  employments  of  their 
trade,  whilst  some  ladies  are  being  shown  some  of 
the  completed  work.  Velazquez,  who  usually  placed 
his  model  in  the  open  air  and  sunshine,  has  here 
braved  the  contrary  difficulty.  His  whole  picture  is 
in  a  half  light,  and  playing  with  such  a  difficulty,  he 
has  succeeded  in  producing  the  most  wonderful 
effects  of  light  and  perspective.  The  exclusive  lovers 
of  color  place  Las  Hilanderas  the  first  of  his  works. 
When  we  come  to  the  Forge  of  Vulcan  (la  Fraga 
de  Vulcano)  we  are  surprised  at  the  title  it  bears. 
Were  it  not  for  the  glory  which  surrounds  the  head 
of  Apollo  we  should  scarcely  imagine  that  we  were 
looking  at  a  mythological  subject  or  at  superhuman 
beings.  Apollo,  who  has  come  to  inform  the  hus- 
band of  Venus  that  Mars  is  occupying  his  place  in 
the  nuptial  bed,  is  no  less  ignoble,  we  must  confess, 
than  the  part  he  is  acting  of  domestic  spy.  Be- 
sides, the  scene  is  not  in  the  burning  caverns  of 
Etna,  nor  is  it  the  black  troop  of  the  Cyclops  forg- 
ing the  thunders  of  Jupiter  or  the  arms  of  Achilles. 
We  here  see  merely  a  blacksmith's  workshop,  with 
the  blacksmith  and  his  apprentices.  But  if  we  take 
away  the  mythology,  and,  removing  the  unsuit- 
able glory  from  the  head  of  Apollo,  make  of  him 
merely  one  of  those  good  neighbors  who,  according 
to  the  Spanish  proverb,  see  who  goes  in  but  not  who 
goes  out,  then  what  a  complete  metamorphosis  do  we 


66  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

behold.  We  may  now  admire  the  space,  the  truth, 
and  effect  in  the  conflict  between  the  light  from  the 
forge  where  the  iron  is  becoming  red  hot,  and  the 
sunlight  which  streams  in  at  the  half-opened  door ; 
the  gestures  of  the  outraged  husband,  who  is  thun- 
derstruck with  surprise  and  anger,  and  the  work- 
men, who  have  suddenly  ceased  their  labors  and  the 
harmonious  cadence  of  their  hammers. 

The  Surrender  of  Breda,  which  is  usually  called  in 
Spain  El  Cuadro  de  las  Lanzas  (The  Picture  of  the 
Lances),  is  a  still  better  work.  The  Subject  of  it  is 
very  simple.  The  Dutch  governor  is  presenting 
Spinola,  the  general  of  the  Spanish  forces,  with  the 
keys  of  the  surrendered  town.  But  Velazquez  has 
made  of  this  a  great  composition.  On  the  left  there 
is  a  part  of  the  escort  of  the  governor ;  his  soldiers 
still  retain  their  arms,  arquebuses,  and  halberds. 
On  the  right,  before  a  troop,  whose  raised  lances 
have  given  the  picture  the  name  it  bears,  is  the 
staff  of  the  Spanish  general.  Spinola's  horse,  which 
is  in  the  foreground  and  seen  from  behind,  breaks 
the  uniformity  of  this  group,  where  all  the  heads 
are  portraits.  Velazquez  has  concealed  his  own 
noble  and  earnest  face  under  the  plumed  hat  of  the 
officer  who  occupies  the  furthest  corner  of  the  pic- 
ture. Between  these  two  groups  the  space  is  empty ; 
the  painter  has  been  so  bold  as  to  separate  them  by 
a  broad  space  of  air  and  light,  which  shows  a  wide 
landscape.  But  the  two  parts  of  the  general  com- 
position are  united  where  Spinola  and  the  Dutch 
general  are  meeting.  Every  point  in  this  immense 
picture  is  worthy  of  praise.  As  a  whole  it  is  grand, 


OASTILIAN   SCHOOL.  69 

and  the  details  are  thoroughly  artistic  and  full  of 
truth.  The  sky,  although  painted  in  Spain,  is  pale 
and  misty,  and  the  earth  is  moist  and  cold.  The 
people  of  the  Low  Countries,  with  their  broad  shoul- 
ders, fair  hair,  and  fresh  complexions,  form  a  good 
contrast  to  the  pale  and  serious  countenances  of  the 
Spaniards,  with  their  carefully-trimmed  beards, 
spare  forms,  and  rich  clothing.  There  is  an  im- 
mense amount  of  nature  and  variety  in  the  attitudes 
of  all,  and  yet  the  hero  of  the  day  attracts  one's 
whole  interest  to  himself.  Although  clothed  in 
complete  armor,  he  has  dismounted  in  order  to  re- 
ceive his  vanquished  enemy,  whom  he  greets  with  a 
smile,  and.  compliments  on  the  courageous  defence. 
The  painter  must  have  understood  true  greatness, 
or  he  could  not  have  so  well  expressed  the  benevo- 
lence and  nobility  which  make  even  a  defeat  en- 
durable. 

To  pass  from  the  Surrender  of  Breda  to  the 
Drinkers  (Los  Beledores,  or  JBorrachos)  is  to  pass 
from  an  epic  poem  to  a  drinking  song,  and  yet,  in- 
stead of  being  inferior  to  the  other,  it  is  perhaps 
even  greater.  The  king  of  a  Bacchanalian  society, 
crowned  with  ivy  leaves,  but  almost  naked,  is  seated 
on  a  barrel  which  serves  him  for  a  throne.  Five  or 
six  jolly  companions  dressed  in  rags  form  his  court, 
and  at  his  feet  there  kneels  a  soldier  of  some  kind, 
who  is  receiving  with  respect  and  gravity  the  acco- 
lade of  knighthood.  The  monarch  wreathes  a  vine 
branch  around  the  head  of  the  new  knight,  whilst 
the  rest  prepare  libations  to  complete  the  ceremony 
and  proclaim  his  welcome.  It  is  merely  a  comic 


70  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

scene,  and  yet  it  is  one  of  those  pictures  the  beauty 
of  which  no  description  can  give  an  idea  of.  It  is 
almost  in  vain  to  call  attention  to  its  special  merits 
— the  puffy  face  of  the  king,  his  fat  body,  which 
speaks  so  strongly  of  the  careless  gluttony  of  those 
called  bon  vivants  in  all  countries ;  the  shaggy  beards, 
red  eyes,  and  ragged  cloaks  of  the  brotherhood  ; 
the  old  man  at  the  back  who  is  uncovering  his  grey 
head  to  salute  a  cup  of  wine,  and  the  other  who  is 
laughing  in  your  face  with  that  contagious  laughter 
which  you  cannot  see  without  joining.  All  this  can- 
not be  described  in  words  ;  such  a  picture  must  be 
thoroughly  known  and  studied  to  be  understood.  I 
have  heard  that  Sir  David  Wilkie,  the  painter  of 
Blind  Man's  Buff  and  the  Village  Beadle,  went  to 
Madrid  expressly  to  study  Velazquez,  and  that,  still 
further  simplifying  the  object  of  his  journey,  he  only 
studied  this  one  picture.  Every  day,  whatever  the 
weather  might  be,  he  would  go  to  the  museum, 
sit  down  before  his  favorite  picture,  and  after  three 
hours  of  silent  rapture,  exhausted  by  fatigue  and 
admiration,  would  utter  a  sigh  of  relief,  take  his  hat 
and  depart. 

I  only  know  one  other  picture  which,  as  an  imita- 
tion of  nature,  equals,  or  perhaps  even  surpasses, 
that  of  the  Drinkers;  and  this  other  is  also  by 
Velazquez.  While  engaged  in  painting  the  portrait 
of  the  Infanta  Margaret  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
taking  the  whole  scene  as  a  picture  with  himself  for 
an  actor.  The  scene  takes  place  in  a  long  gallery 
in  the  palace.  Velazquez  is  on  the  left,  standing  at 
his  easel  with  a  palette  in  his  hand ;  opposite  him  is 


CASTILIAN    SCHOOL.  71 

the  little  infanta,  whom  attendants  are  endeavoring 
to  amuse  during  her  wearisome  sitting.  One  of  her 
ladies,  on  her  knees,  is  presenting  her  with  drink  in  an 
Indian  vase,  and  the.  two  dwarfs,  Nicholas  Pertusano 
and  Maria  Barbola,  are  teasing  a  large  dog,  who 
submits  patiently  to  their  impertinence.  Two  faces 
reflected  in  a  mirror  show  that  Philip  IV.  and  his 
wife  are  present  on  a  sofa  at  the  side.  At  the  extreme 
end  of  the  gallery  a  gentleman  has  half  opened  a  door 
leading  into  the  gardens.  This  picture  is  one  of  the 
few  which  contain  secrets  for  no  one,  which  strike 
the  most  ignorant  as  well  as  the  learned.  If  we 
could  separate  ourselves  from  the  other  objects 
which  surround  us,  and  perceive  nothing  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  picture,  it  would  be  impossible  not  to 
believe  in  the  reality  of  the  things.  All  the  objects 
are  palpable,  and  the  beings  alive ;  the  air  seems  to 
move  amongst  them  and  to  surround  and  penetrate 
them.  The  perspective,  showing  the  space  and 
depth  of  the  gallery,  is  admirable,  as  well  as  the 
light  nnd  its  phenomena.  We  might  almost  count 
the  paces  in  the  gallery ;  and  we  cannot  help  being 
dazzled  a<;  the  resplendent  light  coming  in  at  the 
half-opened  door.  We  may  almost  see  these  per- 
sonages and  hear  them  speak.  Charles  II.  having 
taken  Luca  Giordano,  then  recently  arrived  from 
Spain,  to  see  the  picture,  the  enthusiastic  artist 
exclaJned,  "  Your  majesty,  it  is  the  theology  of 
paintfjy;."  " The  moderns,"  adds  M.  Beule,  "might 
say  more  simply,  it  is  the  photography  of  painting." 
To  this  picture,  which  is  usually  called  Las  Meni- 
nas  (Iryj  meninas  were  the  maids  of  honor),  belongs 


72  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

an  interesting  circumstance  in  the  painter's  life. 
When  he  had  put  the  last  touches  to  it,  he  presented 
it,  like  all  his  works,  to  Philip  IV.,  whom  he  asked 
whether  he  thought  it  still  wanted  anything.  "  One 
thing  only,"  replied  the  prince.  And  taking  the 
palette  from  the  hand  of  Velazquez,  he  himself 
painted  on  the*  breast  of  the  artist  represented  in 
the  picture  the  cross  of  the  order  of  Santiago. 
This  cross  is  still  there  as  it  was  traced  by  the  royal 
hand.  Certainly  there  is  more  gracefulness  and 
nobility  in  this  method  of  ennobling  than  in  the 
sending  of  a  parchment. 

The  Belvedere  Gallery  of  Vienna  is  the  only 
other  museum  in  Europe  which  possesses  a  second 
family  picture  by  the  hand  of  Velazquez.  This  one, 
which  is  almost  equal  to  Las  Meninas,  represents 
this  time,  not  the  family  of  the  king,  but  that  of  the 
painter,  his  wife,  his  children,  his  servants,  and 
himself,  whom  he  has  placed  in  the  back-ground 
before  his  easel,  near  the  portrait  of  Philip  IV. 
Some  time  ago  I  saw  this  picture  placed  near  the 
ceiling  of  a  room,  and  almost  out  of  sight ;  since 
then  I  have  found  it  brought  down  and  resting  on 
the  edge  of  the  woodwork.  This  is  the  contrary 
extreme ;  the  painting  of  Velazquez  is  not  intended 
to  be  looked  at  like  that  of  Gerard  Dow ;  and 
Eembrandt  might  say  of  the  works  of  Velazquez  as 
he  did  of  his  own,  "  Painting  is  not  to  be  smelt." 
This  picture  should  rather  be  placed  in  the  centre 
of  the  panel,  then  it  might  be  seen  to  perfection  and 
appreciated  as  it  deserves. 

Another  work  of  Velazquez  is  in   the   National 


ANDALUSIAN   SCHOOL.  73 

Gallery  of  London ;  this  is  a  Boar  Hunt  at  Aranjuez. 
At  the  foot  of  wooded  hills  a  circus  is  formed  by 
network  hung  around.  Instead  of  bulls,  wild  boars 
have  been  let  loose,  which  are  pursued  by  dogs  and 
attacked  with  the  lance  by  nobles  mounted  on  An- 
dalusian  horses.  Ladies  are  watching  the  warlike 
game  from  their  large  cumbersome  coaches,  which 
look  like  a  sort  of  movable  caravan,  and  are  even 
painted  the  same  light  blue  color  as  the  caravans  at 
a  fair.  But  the  upper  and  lower  parts  of  the  picture 
are  far  superior,  even  in  interest.  The  depth  of  the 
background,  the  sandy  hills,  the  trees  standing  out 
against  a  burning  sky,  and  varying  with  their  dark 
shadows  the  bright  ground  illuminated  by  a  Spanish 
sun,  show  the  special  merit  of  this  master,  his 
truth  and  correctness.  The  foreground,  no  less 
true  and  just,  shows  also  an  infinite  variety  of  com- 
binations and  effects.  This  is  simply  a  line  of 
spectators  watching  over  the  fence  how  the  king 
and  courtiers  are  amusing  themselves.  There  is 
great  diversity  in  the  groups  and  attitudes,  in  the 
expression  of  the  different  countenances,  a  happy 
contrast  of  colors  between  the  brillant  slashed  coats 
of  the  gentlemen  and  the  picturesque  rags  of  the 
beggars,  a  no  less  happy  mixture  of  horses,  mules, 
and  dogs  amongst  men  of  all  ages  and  conditions, 
nothing,  in  short,  is  wanting  in  this  portrait  of  a 
crowd,  not  even  the  sentiment  of  equality,  so  deeply- 
rooted  in  Spain,  where  every  one  says,  proudly, 
"  We  are  all  the  children  of  God." 

Everywhere  else,  at  St.  Petersburg,  Munich,  and 
Dresden,  we  merely  find  simple  portraits  as  speci- 


74  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

meus  of  Velazquez,  and  some  of  these  are  rather  by 
his  copyists  than  by  himself.  In  all  Italy  there  is 
only  the  portrait  of  Innocent  X.,  Panfili,  which  was 
taken  in  Rome  in  1648,  and  which  received,  like  the 
great  works  of  Eaphael  and  Titian,  the  honors  of  a 
procession  and  coronation.  In  the  Louvre  the  only 
really  authentic  and  beautiful  work  of  Velazquez  is 
fche  half-length  portrait  of  the  young  Infanta  Mar- 
garet, who  was  married  to  the  Emperor  Leopold  six 
years  after  her  eldest  sister  Maria  Theresa  had  been 
married  to  Louis  XIV. 

To  describe  Velazquez  in  one  word,  I  should  bor- 
row the  expression  Rousseau  employed  for  himself, 
"  the  man  of  nature  and  truth."  In  subjects  which 
require  neither  grandeur  of  thought,  elevation  of 
style,  nor  sublimity  of  expression,  where  the  true  is 
sufficient,  Velazquez  seems  to  me  unrivalled.  Al- 
though he  painted  without  hesitation  or  touching 
up,  although  he  delighted  in  difficulties,  such  as 
those  of  light,  his  drawing  is  always  irreproachably 
pure.  His  coloring  is  firm,  sure,  and  perfectly 
natural:  there  is  nothing  affected  in  it,  nothing 
brilliant,  or  any  search  for  effect ;  but  there  is  also 
nothing  sad,  pale,  or,  dark,  and  no  dominant  tint  to 
injure  the  effect.  He  colored  as  he  drew  ;  he  was 
everywhere  and  in  everything  true.  In  the  distribu- 
tion of  light  and  shade,  in  the  diffusion  of  ambient 
air — in  other  words,  in  linear  and  aerial  perspective 
— Velazquez  especially  excels.  It  was  in  this  that 
he  discovered  the  secret  of  perfect  illusion.  "  He 
knew  how  to  paint  the  air,"  says  Moratin.  Cer- 
tainly, if  the  art  of  painting  were  merely  the  art  of 


OASTILIAN  SCHOOL.  75 

imitating  nature,  Velazquez  would  be  the  first  painter 
in  the  world.  Perhaps,  indeed,  he  is  the  first  mas- 
ter. Let  us  explain  our  meaning  more  clearly : 
feeling,  depth,  force  of  conception,  physical  move- 
ment, moral  expression,  all  the  qualities  of  genius, 
cannot  be  acquired ;  these  are  the  gifts  of  heaven, 
which  nothing  else  can  impart.  What,  then,  can  be 
taught  in  schools  ?  At  the  utmost,  the  way  to  em- 
ploy these  gifts,  and  apply  them  to  art.  We  may 
obtain  a  knowledge  of  outlines  and  colors,  of  the 
laws  of  perspective,  the  handling  of  the  pencil  and 
the  use  of  the  palette,  of  all  the  resources  of  the 
trade,  the  material  means  of  expressing  on  canvas, 
what  the  eye  sees  or  the  imagination  conceives — in 
a  word,  the  intelligence  is  not  created  there,  but  the 
eye  and  hand  are  formed.  Now,  all  schools  have 
their  defects,  owing  either  to  the  age — that  is  to 
say,  to  the  prevailing  tastes  and  fashions — or  else  to 
the  master  himself  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  the  particular 
faults  of  his  taste  and  method.  These  defects  can 
only  be  corrected  by  the  study  of  nature,  that  inva- 
riable model,  which  is  never  altered  by  the  caprices 
of  fashion  or  the  mistakes  of  men.  But  the  sight 
merely  of  objects  does  not  teach  the  way  of  render- 
ing them  ;  there  must  also  be  a  sight  of  the  way  in 
which  they  are  rendered.  The  best  school,  then,  is 
that  where  the  imitation  approaches  nearest  to 
reality  :  where  the  most  simple  and  skillful  processes 
produce  the  truest  result ;  where  art  is  concealed  by 
nature.  This  is  why  I  said  that  Valazquez  might  be 
considered  the  first  master. 

In  the  Museum  of  Madrid  there  in  an  interesting 


76  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

proof  of  this  opinion.  Near  the  finest  works  of 
Velazquez  there  is  a  large  picture  named  The  Call- 
ing of  St.  Matthew  (Jesus  saying  to  the  publican, 
"  Follow  me  ").  This  picture  presents  one  peculiar- 
ity, which  was  begun  by  the  Venetians.  The  disci- 
ples of  Christ  are  clothed  in  the  Jewish  dress ,  the 
collectors  of  custom  wear  the  boots  and  doublet  of 
the  Spanish  alguazils.  However,  the  many  good 
qualities  might  have  caused  this  picture  to  be  mis- 
taken for  one  of  Velazquez.  But  in  a  dark  corner 
tnere  is  a  humble  servant,  with  crisp  hair,  thick  lips, 
and  dark  complexion ;  this  is  the  artist  himself. 
Velazquez  had  a  mulatto  slave,  named  JUAN  PAREJA, 
as  a  valet.  His  business  was  to  pound  the  colors, 
clean  the  brushes,  and  put  the  colors  on  the  palette. 
Pareja,  who  had  been  a  long  time  in  the  studio, 
every  day  learning  some  secret  of  the  art  which  was 
carried  on  before  him,  had  at  last  felt  his  true  voca- 
tion. But  what  could  the  poor  mulatto  hope  to  do  ? 
His  master,  like  the  ancient  Greeks,  considered  the 
fine"  arts  too  noble  for  the  hands  of  a  slave,  and  he 
had  forbidden  Pareja  any  work  which  would  make 
him  more  than  a  servant  of  painting.  But  the  laws 
of  nature  are  stronger  than  those  of  society.  Car- 
ried away  by  his  passion,  which  was  only  strength- 
ened by  the  obstacles  it  encountered,  Pareja  began 
to  study  with  as  much  ardor  as  he  was  forced  to  use 
mystery.  During  the  day  he  watched  his  master 
paint,  and  listened  to  the  lessons  he  gave  to  his 
pupils  ;  then,  during  the  night,  he  practised  the 
lesson  with  pencil  and  brush.  Studies  such  as  these 
could  not  lead  to  rapid  progress ;  it  required  much 


CASTILIAN    SCHOOL.  77 

time  and  the  most  obstinate  perseverance  on  the 
part  of  Pare]  a  before  he  could  attain  to  a  know- 
ledge of  his  art.  At  last,  when  he  was  forty-five 
years  old,  he  thought  himself  sufficiently  skillful  to 
reveal  the  secret  so  long  kept.  To  do  this,  and  ob- 
tain his  pardon  at  the  same  time,  he  employed  the 
following  artifice  : — Philip  IV.,  who  visited  familiarly 
his  painter  de  camera,  used  to  amuse  himself  with 
looking  over  the  sketches  which  were  scattered 
about  the  room.  Haying  completed  a  picture  of 
small  dimensions,  Pareja  slipped  it  amongst  other 
paintings  with  their  backs  turned  to  the  wall.  At 
his  first  visit  the  king  did  not  fail  to  ask  for  all  the 
sketches  in  the  studio.  When  Pareja  presented  him 
with  his  own  picture,  Philip,  much  surprised,  asked 
who  had  painted  that  fine  work  which  he  had  not 
seen  commenced.  The  mulatto  then,  throwing  him- 
self at  his  feet,  confessed  that  he  was  the  author, 
and  entreated  the  king  to  intercede  for  him  with 
his  master.  Still  more  astonished  at  this  strange 
revelation,  Philip  turned  to  Velazquez,  saying : 
"  You  have  nothing  to  reply  ;  only  remember  that 
the  man  who  possesses  such  talent  cannot  remain  a 
slave."  Velazquez  hastened  to  raise  Pareja,  and, 
promising  him  his  liberty,  which  he  afterwards  gave 
him  in  an  authentic  act,  he  admitted  him  from  that 
day  into  his  school  and  society.  Certainly  this  is  a 
singular  and  touching  history  of  a  slave  earning  his 
liberty  by  the  power  of  labor  and  talent,  and  ob- 
taining it  through  the  intercession  of  a  king. 
Pareja,  however,  showed  himself  worthy  of  it,  less 
by  his  merit  than  by  his  humble  and  grateful  con- 


78  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

duct.  He  continued  to  serve  Velazquez  freely  and 
even  after  the  death  of  the  great  painter  he  served 
his  daughter,  who  was  married  to  Mazo  Martinez, 
until  his  own  death,  which  took  place  in  1670.  He 
is  usually  called  "  Pareja,  the  Slave  of  Velazquez" 
as  Sebastian  Gomez  is  called  the  Mulatto  of  Murillo. 

This  JUAN  BAUTISTA  DEL  MAZO  MARTINEZ  was  not 
merely  the  son-in-law  of  Velazquez,  but  also  his 
most  skillful  imitator.  The  art  of  copying  has  never, 
perhaps,  been  carried  further.  Palomino  relates 
that  copies  of  Titian,  Tintoretto,  and  Paul  Veronese, 
which  he  had  made  in  his  youth,  were  sent  into 
Italy,  where  they  were,  doubtless,  admitted  for 
originals.  Mazo  Martinez  succeeded  especially  in 
copying  the  works  of  his  master.  The  most  expert 
were  mistaken  in  them,  and  even  now  mistakes  of 
the  same  kind  are  no  less  common. 

Like  Murillo  at  Seville,  Velazquez  did  not  leave  a 
single  rival  at  Madrid,  but  only  imitators.  Juan 
Carreiio  was  the  most  successful.  At  the  close  of 
the  century  the  only  Spanish  painter  left  was  CLAU- 
DIO  COELLO,  who  was  in  the  Castilian  school  what 
Carlo  Maratti  had  been  in  the  Roman,  the  last  of 
the  old  masters.  He  has  left  the  Escurial  a  large 
and  celebrated  composition  called  El  Cuadro  de  la 
Forma,  and,  having  become  pintor  de  cdmara  to 
Charles  II.,  he  died  of  grief  and  jealousy,  as  is  said, 
when  Luca  Giordano  was  summoned  from  Italy. 
After  the  death  of  Coello  the  kings  of  Spain  had 
none  but  foreign  painters.  Charles  II.  sent  for  the 
Fa  presto,  Philip  V.  to  France  for  Eanc  and 
Houasse,  and  Charles  III.  sent  to  Italy  for  the 


CASTILIAN   SCHOOL.  79 

German  Baphael  Mengs.  To  come  down  to  the 
present  time,  we  have  only  to  mention  FRANCISCO 
GOYA  Y  LUCIENTES  (1.746-1825).  He  was  his  own 
master,  and  took  lessons  only  of  the  dead.  From 
this  singular  ediication  his  talent  took  a  peculiar 
bent —inaccurate,  wild,  and  without  method  or 
style,  but  full  of  nerve,  boldness,  and  originality. 
Goya  is  the  last  heir,  in  a  very  distant  degree,  of  the 
great  Velazquez.  It  is  the  same  manner,  but  looser 
and  more  fiery.  Being  under  no  delusion  as  to  the 
extent  of  his  own  talent,  Goya  did  not  lose  himself 
in  too  high-flown  ideas  ;  he  confined  himself  to  vil- 
lage processions,  choristers,  and  scenes  of  bull-races 
— in  short,  to  all  sorts  of  painted  caricatures.  In 
this  genre  he  is  full  of  wit,  and  his  execution  is 
always  superior  to  the  subjects.  But,  like  Velazquez, 
Goya  founds  his  best  title  to  celebrity  on  his  por- 
traits. His  equestrian  portraits  of  Charles  IV.  and 
Maria  Louisa  have  been  placed  in  the  vestibule  of 
Museo  del  Bey.  These  works  are,  doubtless,  very 
imperfect,  being  full  of  glaring  faults,  especially  in 
the  forms  of  the  horses.  But  the  heads  and  busts 
have  singular  beauty ;  and  on  the  whole,  though 
very  defective  when  analzyed,  there  is  so  much 
effect,  such  truth  in  the  coloring-,  and  boldness  in 
the  touch,  that  one  cannot  fail  to  admire  these  high 
qualities,  although  regretting  the  essential  defects 
which  they  cannot  entirely  redeem.  Goya  is  best 
known  for  his  etchings,  which  are  very  good.  Eighty 
of  these  have  been  collected  into  a  volume,  which  is 
called  the  '  Works  of  Goya.'  These  are  witty  alle- 
gories on  the  persons  and  things  of  his  own  time, 


80  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

and  remind  us  of  Callot  in  their  invention,  of  Ho- 
garth in  their  humor,  and  of  Rembrandt  in  their 
vigor  and  pointedness. 

After  Goya  there  is  a  complete  gap  in  Spanish 
art,  and  it  was  with  surprise,  and  still  more  with 
pleasure,  that  we  found  it  to  be  reviving  at  the  time 
of  the  Universal  Exhibition.  Thanks  to  Messrs. 
Bosales,  Palmaroli,  and  Gisbert,  Spain  maintained 
her  position  there  honorably  amongst  the  assembled 
nations. 


OHAPTEE  II. 

GERMAN      SCHOOL. 

IN  our  former  volume  on  Italian  Art,  in  the  chap- 
ter of  the  Renaissance,*  we  saw  that  the  German 
art  of  the  fourteenth  century  had,  like  the  Italian, 
been  learned  from  the  Byzantines,  and  that  it  also 
had  soon  emancipated  itself  from  all  servile  imita- 
tion. We  also  saw  that  the  first  German  school 
appeared  in  Bohemia,  with  THEODORIC  OF  PRAGUE. 
NICHOLAS  WURMSER,  and  THOMAS  OF  MUTINA;  the 
second,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ehine,  at  Cologne,  un- 
der MEISTER  WILHELM  and  MEISTER  STEPHAN.  The 
former  master,  who,  as  contemporary  chroniclers  said, 
"painted  men  of  every  form  as  if  they  were  alive," 
flourished  about  1380 ;  the  second,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  a  pupil  of  the  Meister  Wilhelm,  about  1410. 
The  paintings  in  the  dome  of  the  cathedral  of  Co- 
logne and  its  celebrated  triptych  are  generally  attrib- 
uted to  one  of  these  schools.  This  triptych,  which 
is  an  object  of  ancient  and  of  general  admiration, 
represents  on  the  outside  an  Annunciation,  and 
within  an  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  not  in  the  humble 
stable  of  Bethlehem,  but  before  a  glorified  Virgin, 
with  St.  Gereon  and  his  knights  on  one  of  the 

*  'Wonders  of  Italian  Art,'  p.  41.  Charles  Scribner  and 
Company. 


82  WONDERS  OF  PAINTINa. 

wings,  and  St.  Ursula  and  her  virgins  on  the  other.* 
From  the  parent  stem  of  the  Cologne  school  sprung 
the  two  great  branches  which,  extending  to  the  east 
and  west  on  both  banks  of  the  Rhine,  formed  the 
schools  of  Germany  and  of  Flanders.  The  latter, 
which  was  rendered  famous  by  the  brothers  Van 
Eyck,  was,  in  the  time  of  Meister  Stephan,  the 
teacher  of  the  other,  both  in  style  and  in  the  pro- 
cesses employed.  An  interesting  proof  of  this  teach- 
ing is  found  in  the  time  of  the  other  great  master  of 
Bruges,  Hans  Hemling  (Memling).  These  are  the 
pictures  of  those  old  artists  whose  names  are  un- 
known, and  who  are  therefore  only  remembered  as 
the  MASTER  OF  LIESBORN  (about  1465)  and  the  MAS- 
TER OF  WERDEN  (about  1480),  because  their  works 
were  found  in  these  two  abbeys  in  the  south  of  West- 
phalia. Several  of  these  are  in  the  National  Gal- 
lery of  London.  They  might  even  be  thought  to  be 
the  work  of  the  master  of  Bruges.  Following  the 
German  branch  in  the  development  of  its  history, 
we  meet,  still  on  the  Rhine,  with  a  numerous  family 
of  painters,  at  the  head  of  which  is  the  old  MARTIN 
SCHONGAUER,  who  was  born,  and  died,  at  Colrnar, 

*  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi  now  belongs  to  the  cathedral  of  Co- 
logne, that  gigantic  memorial  of  German  faith,  which,  after  so 
many  centuries,  is  only  now  approaching  completion.  This  famous 
triptych  belonged  to  the  town,  and  at  the  time  of  the  French  con- 
quests the  people  of  Cologne,  in  order  to  spare  the  picture  the 
journey  to  Paris,  sent  it  to  the  cathedral  for  safety.  They  have 
since  wished  to  reclaim  it,  in  order  to  place  it  in  the  provincial 
museum  they  have  begun  to  form  ;  but  the  church  refused  to  give 
it  up,  and  after  a  trial  which  passed  through  all  the  courts  of  law 
the  cathedral  remained  in  possession  of  the  picture — a  good  pre- 
cedent to  hold  up  to  municipal  authorities  ! 


GERMAN    SCHOOL.  83 

and  who  in  Germany  is  called  Martin  Sckon,  and  in 
France  Le  Beau  Martin.  He,  like  the  Florentine 
Maso  Finiguerra,  was  an  engraver  as  well  as  a  gold- 
smith, and,  like  the  Bolognese  goldsmith,  Francesco 
Francia,  became  also  a  painter.  In  the  paintings 
of  Martin  Schon  the  brilliant  coloring  of  the  Van 
Eycks  is  united  to  the  fine  and  hard  delicacy  of  the 
engraver. 

Three  other  schools  were  formed  at  the  same 
time  from  this  school  of  the  Khine,  those  of  Augs- 
burg, Dresden,  and  of  Nuremberg,  the  last  of  which 
produced  the  greatest  number  of  masters,  and  lasted 
the  longest  time. 

The  Augsburg  school  attained,  under  the  elder 
HANS  HOLBEIN  (born  1450),  to  great  brilliancy  and 
renown.  Unhappily,  this  eminent  master  only  left 
a  single  pupil  in  his  own  country — CHRISTOPHER 
AMBERGER,  who  had  no  successor.  The  younger 
HANS  HOLBEIN  (1498^1543),  who  became  greater 
and  more  celebrated  than  his  father,  and  who  is 
always  intended  when  Holbein  is  spoken  of,  after 
having  lived  for  some  time  at  Basle,  went  to  Eng- 
land, where  he  was  retained  by  the  munificence  of 
Henry  VIII.  and  the  friendship  of  Sir  Thomas 
More.  Being  thus  lost  to  Germany,  he  terminates 
abruptly  the  short  list  of  masters  of  the  school  be- 
gun by  his  father.  We  must  go,  then,  to  the  old 
Palace  of  Hampton  Court,  where  Eaphael's  car- 
toons were  long  kept,  for  the  largest  collection  of  his 
works.  Holbein  left  many,  both  there  and  else- 
where, for,  although  his  days  were  cut  short  by  the 
plague,  he  possessed  an  ardent  love  of  work,  and 


84  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

also  the  rare  and  singular  advantage  of  working 
equally  well  with  both  hands. 

At  Hampton  Court  there  are  twenty-seven  pic- 
tures said  to  be  by  Holbein.  The  most  remarkable 
of  these  seem  to  me  to  be,  among  the  portraits,  that 
of  Henry  VIII.  and  his  Family,  frauds  L,  two  of 
Erasmus,  the  Earl  of  Surrey,  a  full-length  portrait 
the  size  of  life,  the  Jester  of  Henry  VIIL  (laughing 
behind  a  small-paned  window),  the  Father  and 
MotJier  of  Holbein,  his  wife,  and  himself  (both  when 
young  and  old) ;  amongst  the  larger  pictures  we 
should  notice  the  Interview  between  Henry  VIIL  and 
Francis  I.  at  Hie  Field  of  the  Glolh  of  Gold,  that  be- 
tween Henry  VIIL  and  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  the 
Battle  of  Pavia,  the  Battle  of  the  Spurs,  and  Mary 
Magdalene  at  the  Tomb  of  Christ  (Noli  me  tangere.) 

There  is  no  need  to  tell  the  admirers  of  Holbein 
the  value  and  interest  of  such  a  collection  as  this. 
The  whole  artist's  life  may  be  seen  here,  in  his  ear- 
lier pictures,  during  the  changes  in  his  style,  show- 
ing indeed  such  progress,  that  on  seeing  the  first 
and  later  works  we  might  well  doubt  their  being  the 
work  of  one  hand.  He  is  always  exact  and  correct, 
always  the  willing  slave  of  nature ;  but  in  his  early 
works  he  is  cold,  hard,  and  accurate,  sacrificing 
everything  to  the  line.  "When  painting  on  wood  or 
canvas  he  would  seem  to  be  engraving  on  copper ; 
his  style  in  this  stage  was  like  that  of  his  father. 
By  degrees  his  manner  became  softer  and  more  ele- 
gant ;  the  coloring  also,  which  had  been  dry  and 
sad,  assumed  consistency,  transparency,  heat,  and 
brilliancy.  He  showed  himself  at  once  a  great 


GEIIMAN   SCHOOL.  85 

colorist  and  a  great  drawer ;   in   fact  he  became 
himself.* 

His  greatest  perfection  is  seen  principally  in  the 
works  of  his  maturer  age,  the  dates  on  which  show 
when  they  were  done ;  for  instance,  the  Magdalen, 
among  the  pictures,  which  in  vigor  of  expression 
might  have  been  thought  to  be  the  work  of  a 
Florentine  master  of  the  sixteenth  century ;  among 
the  portraits,  his  own,  forming  a  pendent  to  that  of 
his  wife,  when  both  were  old,  or  that  of  the  Earl  of 
Surrey,  dressed  entirely  in  red  from  head  to  foot,  a 
portrait  in  which  Holbein  conquered  the  same  diffi- 
culty in  coloring  as  Velazquez  did  a  century  later  in 
the  portrait  of  Innocent  X.  Holbein  cannot  be 
known  to  perfection  in  Paris ;  the  Louvre  only  pos- 
sesses second-rate  works  by  his  hand.  We  must  go 
to  Basle  for  the  finest  of  his  drawings  and  cartoons, 
and  to  Dresden  for  his  greatest  work  in  painting. 
This  is  the  rival  to  the  Madonna  di  San  Sisto,  and  is 
called  the  Meyer  Madonna.  In  a  large  picture  con- 
taining eight  personages,  we  see  the  family  of 
Meyer,  a  burgomaster  of  Basle,  kneeling  before  a 
glorified  Madonna.  And  yet  it  seems  to  me  that  it 
is  not  the  Child-God  whom  Mary  holds  in  her  arms, 
but  rather  the  youngest  child  of  the  municipal  mag- 
istrate, while  the  infant  Jesus,  who  is  easily  recog- 
nized, has  taken  amongst  the  Swiss  family  the  place 
of  the  child  whom  Mary  is  holding.  Doubtless 

*  We  must  remember  that  the  date  of  Holbein's  death  having 
been  by  authenic  documents  fixed  as  having  occurred  in  1543,  in- 
stead of  1554,  the  works  dated  after  1543  cannot  be  by  Holbein  ; 
they  must  merely  be  an  imitation  of  his  style. 


86  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

from  a  doctrinal  point  of  view  there  is  something 
very  bold  in  this  exchange  ;  but  certainly,  looking  at 
it  entirely  in  an  artistic  light,  it  is  a  happy  and 
touching  idea,  which  depicts  simply  the  frankness 
and  cordiality  of  the  Germans.  But  we  must  not 
expect  to  find  in  Holbein's  Madonna  the  Catholic 
sentiment ;  this  is  not  to  be  found  in  it  any  more 
than  the  Italian  type.  In  this  young  mother,  with 
golden  hair  encircled  with  a  crown  instead  of  with 
a  glory,  there  is  nothing  to  remind  us  of  Fra  An- 
gelico  or  of  Eaphael ;  this  is  the  Virgin  of  the 
North,  the  Protestant  Virgin  ;  and  the  great  merit 
of  Holbein  is  precisely  this,  to  have  succeeded  in 
creating  a  new  type — that  of  his  country  and  of  his 
belief.  Add  to  this  high  quality,  the  great  beauty 
of  the  portraits,  the  truth,  the  strength,  and  the 
great  finish,  even  in  the  smallest  details.  Even  re- 
membering the  Holbeins  at  Hampton  Court,  I  do 
hesitate  to  pronounce  the  Meyer  Madonna  at  Dres- 
den, the  chef-d'oeuvre  of  the  Augsburg  painter.* 

Near  this  wonderful  painting  there  are  also  eight 
excellent  portraits,  amongst  others,  that  of  a  Knight 
of  the  Golden  Fleece,  who  is  believed  to  be  the  Em- 
peror Maximilian  I ,  but  who,  from  a  kind  of  thick 
mane,  might  be  taken  for  one  of  the  long-haired 
kings  of  the  Franks.  Another  portrait  which  had 
long  been  disputed  has  recently  been  restored  to 
Holbein,  and  this  is  the  most  beautiful  of  his  por- 

*  The  sketch  for  this  picture,  which  was  long  called  the  Family 
of  Sir  Thomas  More,  is  in  the  Museum  of  Basle,  and  every  one 
agrees  that  the  first  original  painting  which  was  made  from  it  by 
Holbein  is  at  Darmstadt,  in  the  collection  of  the  Princess  of  Solms. 


GERMAN    SCHOOL.  87 

traits  at  Dresden,  and  perhaps  in  the  world.  This 
portrait  was  thought  to  have  been  taken,  by  Leon- 
ardo da  Vinci,  of  the  Duke  of  Milan,  Lodovico 
Sforza,  who  died  a  prisoner  in  France.  It  appears 
to  be  of  a  goldsmith  or  treasurer  of  Henry  VIII., 
named  Thomas  Morrett.  Thomas  Morrett  was 
changed  in  the  first  place  to  Thomas  Morus  or 
More,  the  name  of  the  celebrated  Chancellor  be- 
headed by  Henry  VIII.  Then  in  Italy,  Morus 
became  Moro,  and  as  this  name  could  only  belong 
to  the  Duke  Ludovico  Sforza,  the  work  was  naturally 
attributed  to  Leonardo,  who  was  both  his  painter 
and  his  friend. 

The  great  perfection  of  the  work  would  also  justify 
this  confusion,  and  there  is  no  need  to  dwell  on 
the  glory  due  to  Holbein  for  having  been  mistaken 
for  the  author  of  La  Jocondey  at  the  same  time  that 
he  was  challenging  comparison  with,  and  rivalling, 
the  author  of  the  Madonna  di  San  Sisto. 

Still  more  limited  than  that  of  Augsburg,  the 
school  of  Dresden  can  only  boast  of  one  master, 
faithfully  but  feebly  followed  by  his  son.  This 
master  is  LUCAS  SUNDER,  generally  called  Lucas 
CRANACH,  from  the  name  of  his  birth-place  (1475- 
1553).  Cranach,  who  almost  equalled  his  rival  and 
contemporary,  Albert  Durer,  in  talent,  fertility,  and 
renown,  created  a  style  of  his  own  in  which  he 
substituted  an  exact  imitation  of  nature  for  the  tra- 
ditional forms  of  dogma.  Cranach,  who  was  painter 
to  the  three  electors  of  Saxony,  Frederick  the  Wise, 
John  the  Constant,  and  John  Frederick  the  Mag- 
nanimous, the  most  zealous  champions  of  the  Re- 


88  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

formation,  was  also  the  friend  of  Luther,  and  one  of 
the  first  converts  to  the  reformed  faith.  Conse- 
quently, his  paintings  felt  the  influence  of  the  doc- 
trines which,  by  condemning  the  idolatries  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  cut  off  its  chief  nourishment  and 
chief  subjects  from  religious  art.  Cranach's  painting 
was  essentially  Protestant,  as  was  Rembrandt's 
afterwards.  Cranach  is  nowhere  to  be  found  out  of 
Germany,  except  indeed  at  Madrid,  where  he  is 
honorably  represented  by  two  hunting  pieces,  well 
composed  and  painted.  In  the  Louvre  there  are 
only  a  few  insignificant  specimens  of  his  work.  But 
in  Germany  he  may  be  found  everywhere,  even  in 
the  little  museum  at  Carlsruhe,  and  in  that  which  is 
being  formed  at  Leipzig.  Dresden  itself,  however, 
does  not  possess  the  finest  works  of  its  painter  ; 
inasmuch,  as  among  twenty  or  thirty  fine  paintings, 
a  Herodias,  a  Bathskeba,  a  Samson  on  DalilahVknees, 
a  Hercules  attacked  by  the  Pigmies,  etc.;  there  is 
not  one  of  such  superior  merit  that  it  can  be  at 
once  pointed  out  as  being  the  highest  expression  of 
Cranach's  talent.  From  this  collection  one  would 
suppose  that  the  painter  of  Saxony  had  never  known 
any  of  those  bursts  o.f  genius  in  which  artists  can 
sometimes  even  surpass  themselves. 

To  me,  he  seems  greater  at  Munich.  If  this  word 
is  to  be  applied  to  the  size  of  the  picture,  we  must 
mention  one  of  the  Woman  taken  in  Adultery  ;  but 
this  simply  represents  a  pretty  and  lively  German 
girl,  who  seems  by  no  means  overwhelmed  with 
shame  and  terror,  like  the  woman  in  Poussin's  pic- 
ture of  the  same  subject ;  and  amongst  the  surround- 


GERMAN  SCHOOL.  89 

ing  faces  many  are  extremely  grotesque.  Here  as 
elsewhere,  Cranach  is  happiest  in  his  small  pictures, 
Adam  and  Eve  in  Paradise,  Lot  and  his  Daughters 
in  a  grotto,  the  Madonna,  who  is  offering  some 
grapes  to  the  Bambino,  are  fine  and  charming  works. 
He  rises  again  in  a  vast  triptych,  the  central  panel 
of  which  represents  a  Crucifixion,  surrounded  by 
scenes  from  the  Passion.  Here  the  highest  expres- 
sion of  Cranach's  talent  may  be  found,  unless,  indeed, 
it  be  sought  in  the  excellent  portraits  of  the  two 
great  reformers,  the  learned  and  gentle  Philip  Me- 
lancthon  (in  German  Schwarz-Erdt,  or  Black  Earth;) 
the  other,  the  terrible  Martin  Luther,  admirably  re- 
presented with  his  bull  head,  which  attacked  the 
Vatican  in  so  formidable  a  manner,  and  which  we 
see  again  in  our  own  time  in  another  destroyer  of 
the  past — Mirabeau.  These  twin  portraits,  which 
bear  the  monogram  of  the  painter,  a  small  winged 
dragon,  are  dated  1532,  two  years  after  Melancthon 
had. drawn  up  the  famous  Augsburg  Confession,  and 
when  Luther  was  beholding  the  triumph  of  his 
cause,  assured  by  the  peace  of  Nuremberg. 

Vienna  also,  the  Catholic  Vienna,  has  in  its  Bel- 
vedere gallery  several  good  pictures  by  the  Protest- 
ant painter,  among  others  a  Stag  Hunt,  similar  to 
the  hunting  pieces  in  the  Madrid  Collection,  into 
which  several  historical  persons  are  introduced, 
Charles  V.,  John  Frederic  the  Magnanimous,  etc. 
But  the  best  collection  of  Cranach's  works  is  to  be 
found  at  Berlin.  There  is  such  a  uniformity  in 
point  of  merit  in  his  works,  he  so  seldom  either 
rises  or  falls  below  his  usual  style,  that  one  has  to 


90  WONDEKS   OF  PAINTING. 

choose  out  the  most  important  and  curious  among 
them,  rather  than  the  best.  Under  this  title  we  may 
mention,  first  a  Hercules  before  Ompliale.  The  son 
of  Jupiter  not  only  holds  the  spindle,  but  wears  a 
woman's  cap,  while  the  imperious  Queen  of  Lydia 
is  a  pretty  little  German  woman,  of  the  almost 
invariable  type  of  Cranach's  women,  fair  hair,  very 
small  blue  eyes,  retrousse  nose,  and  a  transparent 
veil  falling  over  her  eyebrows.  For  the  same  reason 
we  ought  also  to  notice  the  Fountain  of  Youth.  This 
represents  a  large  fountain  or  basin,  into  which,  at 
one  end,  a  procession  of  old  women — horrible  old 
hags — is  entering,  while  another  procession  is  leav- 
ing it,  at  the  other  end,  of  young  beauties,  thus 
metamorphosed  by  the  wonderful  water.  Ah1  these 
nudities,  ugly  and  beautiful,  seem  to  have  delighted 
the  great  Frederick,  who  has  been  lavish  of  them 
in  his  palaces.  We  must  lastly  mention  three 
Venu?es  and  an  Eve,  all  four  as  thoroughly  German 
as  if  there  had  been  no  other  race  but  the  Teutonic 
either  in  Greece  or  in  Paradise.  The  sole  clothing 
of  one  of  the  Venuses,  i'f  my  memory  does  not  mis- 
lead me,  is  a  cardinal's  red  hat;  the  malice  of  a 
Protestant  painter !  Among  the  portraits  may  be 
noticed  Luther  and  Melancthon,  always  inseparable, 
then  Luther  again  with  his  wife,  Catherine  von 
Bora,  then  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  as  cardinal,  and 
also  as  St,  Jerome  in  the  desert,  surrounded  by  lions, 
stags  and  hares,  a  subject  in  which  the  artist  shows 
his  love  for  hunting  scenes,  and  his  singular  talent 
for  representing  animals. 

At  Nuremberg  the  first  artist  who  left  a  name  and 


GERMAN   SCHOOL.  91 

founded  a  school  was  MICHAEL  WOHLGEMUTH,  born 
in  1434,  who,  when  he  began  to  paint,  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  processes  of  the  Van  Eycks, 
which  made  him  follow  the  School  of  Bruges.  Al- 
though his  works  have  always  enjoyed  a  well-merited 
reputation,  his  greatest  title  to  glory  is  the  fact  of 
his  having  been  the  master  of  ALBERT  DURER 
(1471-1528),  who  continued  his  style,  although  he 
far  surpassed  his  master  both  in  thought  and  in 
execution.  Wohlgemuth  is  the  Perugino  of  German 
art ;  and  Albert  Diirer  the  Raphael.  His  best  works 
may  be  compared  with  the  early  efforts  of  his  illus- 
trious pupil,  just  as  the  Sposalizio,  for  example, 
which  Raphael  painted  at  twenty  years  of  age,  is 
like  the  Saint  Peter  receiving  the  Keys  which  Peru- 
gino has  left  in  the  Sistine  Chapel.  A  new  and 
very  striking  proof,  that  the  greatest  geniuses  and 
most  renowned  painters,  far  from  appearing  sud- 
denly in  the  world,  without  any  precursors,  are 
merely  the  complete  resume  of  their  predecessors, 
the  highest  expression  of  the  art  of  their  age.  Such 
were  Raphael  at  Rome,  Titian  at  Venice,  Rubens 
at  Antwerp,  Murillo  at  Seville,  and  Albert  Diirer  at 
Nuremberg. 

There  are  several  reasons  for  calling  Albert  Diirer 
the  Raphael  of  Germany,  that  is  to  say,  the  highest 
and  the  most  complete  personification  of  German 
ait.  Brought  up,  like  Martin  Schon,  in  a  gold- 
smith's workshop,  he  not  only  became  a  painter  and 
engraver,  but  also,  like  Michael  Angelo,  studied 
sculpture,  architecture,  and  even  literature.  The 
friend  of  Erasmus,  whom  indifference  rather  than 


92  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

faith  retained  in  the  Catholic  ranks,  and  of  Melanc- 
thon,  who  defended  with  gentleness  the  doctrines  of 
the  fiery  Luther,  he  remained,  in  common  with  his 
native  town,  a  stranger  to  the  quarrels  and  the  pas- 
sions of  his  age,  finding  himself  as  it  were  on  a 
neutral  ground  between  the  two  religious  camps 
into  which  Germany  was  divided.  His  genius 
seems  to  sum  up  the  character  of  his  country  ;  it  is 
grave,  slow,  and  profound,  but  at  the  same  time, 
strong,  and  sometimes  terrible,  more  powerful  than 
graceful,  and  impressed  with  a  peculiar  mysticism 
which  unites  the  wildest  caprices  of  the  imagination 
to  objects  of  the  most  exact  reality.  "  Strange 
genius !"  says  M.  Charles  Blanc,  "  with  figures 
prosaically  exact  in  detail,  he  expresses  ideas  of 
poetical  uncertainty,  and  often  of  impenetrable 
mystery."  Lastly,  by  journeying  alternately  from 
Bruges  to  Venice,  being  at  once  the  friend  of  Lucas 
of  Leyden  and  of  Kaphael,  Albert  Durer  made  for 
himself  a  sort  of  composite  art,  which  unite  the 
nobler  and  more  thoughtful  style  of  Italian  idealism 
to  the  brilliant  delicacy  of  the  Flemish  naturalism. 

This  mixture,  though  very  successful  for  the  time, 
and  for  the  master  himself,  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the 
causes  which  brought  on  the  rapid  decay  and  the 
almost  immediate  extinction  of  German  art.  The 
only  faithful  disciples  of  Albert  Durer  were  those 
who  lived  under  his  eyes  and,  as  it  were,  under  his 
rule,  Hans  Burgkmair,  his  friend  ;  Albrecht  Alt- 
dorfer,  who  came  from  Switzerland  ;  Hans  Schauf- 
folein,  from  Swabia ;  Hans  Wagner,  born  at  Kuhn- 
bach,  which  name  he  retained,  etc.  As  soon  as 


GERMAN    SCHOOL.  93 

Albert  Diirer  was  in  the  tomb,  all  the  German 
artists,  even  those  who  had  frequented  his  studio, 
and  followed  his  style,  divided  themselves  between 
the  two  schools  whose  processes  and  styles  he  had 
united  ;  all  became  either  Italian  or  Flemish.  The 
foremost  among  them,  whose  example  wras  the  most 
decisive,  HANS  SCHOOREL,  or  Schoreel  (born  1495), 
having  studied  under  Mabuse,  inclined,  like  his  new 
master,  towards  the  Italian  School,  and  GEORGE 
PENZ  (born  1500),  still  more  resolute,  settled  at 
Borne,  even  during  the  lifetime  of  Albert  Durer,  in 
order  to  study  under  the  pupils  of  Raphael  It  is 
certain  that  after  the  death  of  the  great  Nuremberg 
master,  all  the  artists  born  in  Germany  enrolled 
themselves  in  the  schools  either  of  Italv  or  of 
Flanders,  and  that  national  art  became  extinct. 
Whilst  Mazing  copied  the  Smith  of  Antwerp,  HANS 
VON  CALCAR  went  to  study  under  Titian,  HANS 
KOTHENHAMMER  under  Tintoretto ;  JOACHIM  VAN 
SANDRART,  rather  later,  imitated  the  Venetians,  and 
.Adam  Elzheirner  completed  his  studies  at  Home 
under  Honthorst,  and  afterwards  formed  Cornelius 
Poelemburg  on  the  same  model.  Following  the 
history  of  German  art  to  the  end  of  the  last  century, 
we  see  on  one  side  the  two  Ostades  and  the  three 
Netschers  take  a  distinguished  place  among  the 
Dutch  painters ;  on  the  other  we  see  PHILIP  Roos 
(Rosa  de  Tivoli),  who  settled  in  Italy  like  Claude, 
and  Raphael  Mengs,  taken  by  his  father  from 
Bohemia  to  Rome,  to  endeavor  to  find  traces  of 
Raphael,  Sanzio,  and  Correggio,  in  an  age  which 
was  degenerating  so  rapidly  from  its  noble  models. 


94  WONDEBS   OF  PAINTING. 

It  was  only  when  the  revival  of  art  was  commencing 
in  France  that  national  art  reawaking  in  Germany 
attempted  a  revival  which  we  shall  be  able  to  speak 
of  later.* 

To  return  to  the  works  o.f  Albert  Durer.  Like 
those  of  his  rival,  Lucas  Cranach,  they  must  not  be 
sought  out  of  Germany.  Very  few  have  left  its 
boundaries — so  few,  indeed,  that  in  the  Louvre 
there  are  only  three  or  four  drawings.  It  is  once 
again  the  Museum  of  Madrid  which  forms  an  ex- 
ception, and  alone,  thanks  to  the  double  crown  of 
Charles  V.,  owns  some  paintings  by  the  Nuremberg 
master :  a  Crucifixion,  dated  1513,  in  which  he  dis- 
plays all  the  strength  and  maturity  of  his  talent ; 
two  Allegories,  philosophical  and  Christian,  which, 
as  Death  is  the  principal  figure,  must  have  related 
to  the  famous  Dance  of  Death,  then  such  a  favorite 
subject,  and  which  furnished  Holbein  with  a  long 
series  of  wood  engravings ;  lastly,  his  portrait  of 
himself,  with  the  date  1496.  He  was  then  twenty- 
five  years  old.  In  this  portrait  Durer  has  a  fresh- 
looking  countenance,  though  thin  and  long,  large 
blue  eyes,  a  very  fair  beard,  and  long  curls  flowing 
down  over  his  shoulders  from  a  kind  of  pointed  cap. 
His  black  and  white  striped  costume  is  very  peculiar, 

*  The  complete  vacuum  which  German  art  in  all  its  branches  pre- 
sents between  the  dispersion  of  the  pupils  of  Holbein,  Cranach, 
and  Albert  Durer,  and  the  revival  accomplished  in  our  own  days, 
may  be  partly  accounted  for  by  the  horrible  Thirty  Years'  Wai 
(from  1618  to  1648),  by  its  atrocious  excesses  and  unheard-of  de- 
vastations, which  arrested  in  this  unhappy  country  all  progress, 
civilization,  culture,  and  intelligence. 


GERMAN  SCHOOL.  95 

and  in  every  sense  of  the  word  this  may  be  called  a 
valuable  curiosity. 

At  Munich  his  whole  history  may  be  read  in 
seventeen  pictures,  which  contain  examples  of  his 
earliest  attempts,  his  successive  changes,  and  his 
latest  style.  The  earliest  of  his  works  here  must  be 
the  portrait  of  his  father,  dated  1497.  The  follow- 
ing inscription  may  be  read  on  it : — 

"  Das  inalt  ich.  nach.  meines  Vatters  gestalt, 
Da  er  war  sibenzich  Jar  alt." 

[This  I  painted  from  my  Father  when  he  was  seventy  years  old."] 

This  excellent  picture,  painted  con  amore,  bears  the 
monogram,  now  so  well  known — a  little  D  in  a  great 
A.  His  own  portrait  comes  next,,  dated  1500,  four 
years  after  the  one  at  Madrid ;  it  is  the  same  coun- 
tenance, with  the  large  blue  eyes,  light  beard,  and 
curled  hair,  but  the  face  is  fuller  and  the  expression 
more  manly.  His  robe,  trimmed  with  fur,  is  more 
serious  than  the  striped  coat  and  pointed  cap  he 
wore  in  1496.  This  portrait  at  Munich,  on  which 
he  traced  the  following  inscription,  Albertus  Durerus, 
Noricus,  ipsum  me  propriis  sic  effingebam  coloribus 
cetatis  XXVIII.,  is  one  of  his  most  astonishing 
works,  and  of  those  which  placed  him,  before  thirty 
years  of  age,  at  the  head  of  all  the  other  artists  of 
his  native  land.  Another  historical  portrait,  no  less 
precious,  is  that  of  his  venerable  master,  which  has 
a  greenish  background,  and  to  which  he  added,  a 
few  years  later,  the  following  inscription  :  "  This 
portrait  Albrecht  Diirer  has  painted  after  his  master, 


96  WONDEBS  OF  PAINTING. 

Michael  Wohlgemuth,  in  the  year  1516,  when  he 
was  eighty-two  years  old ;  and  he  lived  until  the 
year  1519,  when  he  died  on  St.  Andrew's  day  early, 
before  the  sun  had  risen." 

Two  vast  historical  pictures  show  us  of  what 
Albert  Diirer  was  capable.  One  is  a  Descent  from 
the  Cross,  in  which  Joseph  of  Arimathea  appears  to 
me  the  finest  figure  in  the  group  ;  the  Christ,  much 
older  than  tradition  represents  him,  has  no  other 
beauty  than  the  exact  and  hideous  reproduction  of 
death.  The  other  is  a  Nativity  in  the  manger, 
where  the  Infant  God  is  worshipped  by  a  group  of 
cherubim,  whilst  other  angels  flying  away  are 
going  to  announce  the  good  news  to  the  shepherds. 
This  fine  Nativity  formed  the  central  panel  of  a 
large  triptych,  the  wings  of  which  have  been  taken 
off.  These  contain  the  portraits  of  the  brothers 
Baumgartner,  knights  who  are  in  armor. 

In  presenting  these  portraits  to  the  Emperor 
Maximilian  I.,  the  town  of  Nuremberg  added  a  gift 
no  less  rare  and  more  precious — two  large  pictures 
in  pendents,  in  one  of  which  are  St.  Peter  and  St. 
John,  and  in  the  other  St.  Paul  and  St.  Mark. 
These  four  apostles,  known  under  the  name  of  the 
Four  Temperaments,  are  of  life  size  ;  and,  certainly, 
Albert  Diirer  has  never  imparted  either  greater 
material  or  moral  grandeur  to  his  figures.  Although 
these  two  magnificent  pictures  bear  no  date,  it  may 
easily  be  seen  that  they  belong  to  the  latter  part  of 
the  artist's  life,  when,  after  his  travels  in  Flanders 
and  Italy,  he  had  acquired  the  full  degree  of  execu- 
tion and  vigorous  coloring  which  he  was  to  attain. 


ALBEP.T   DUREB.   p.' 

THE   FOUR   EVANGELISTS— BY  ALBRECHT    DURER. 


GERMAN   SCHOOL.  99 

Albert  Diirer  survived  Raphael  eight,  and  the  Frate 
(Bartoloinmeo  della  Porta)  eleven  years.  I  believe 
that  his  travels  in  Italy  were  not  confined  to  Venice, 
and  that  he  did  not  neglect  to  visit  the  town  of  the 
Medicis,  then  the  centre  of  the  fine  arts.  At  all 
events,  the  four  Apostles  of  Munich,  in  nobility  and 
imposing  grandeur,  seem  inspired  by  the  St.  Mark 
of  Fra  Bartoloinmeo,  which  is,  perhaps,  in  painting, 
the  highest  expression  of  strength  and  power,  as  the 
Moses  of  Michael  Angelo  is  in  statuary. 

It  is  Vienna,  however,  and  not  Munich,  which  pos- 
sesses the  finest  productions  of  the  Nuremberg  mas- 
ter. Passing  by  three  portraits,  amongst  which  are 
those  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian  /.,  dated  1519,  the 
year  of  his  death,  and  that  of  a  certain  Johann 
Kleeberger,  which  Albert  Diirer  painted  two  years 
before  his  own  death,  in  1526 ;  passing  over  also 
two  Madonnas,  one  of  1503,  quite  German  in  type 
and  execution,  the  other  of  1512,  which  is  purely 
Italian  in  sentiment,  especially  in  the  naked  figure 
of  the  child,  we  will  come  at  once  to  two  pictures  of 
the  greatest  importance  among  his  works.  If  he 
has  painted  pictures  of  greater  size,  I  have  never 
seen  any  of  greater  merit.  These  are  indeed  real 
masterpieces,  an  honor  at  once  to  the  master,  who 
is  seen  to  perfection  in  them,  and  also  to  the  Belve- 
dere Gallery,  which  fears  no  rivalry  on  this  point. 

The  first  in  date  contains  in  the  narrow  space  of 
one  panel,  about  one  square  yard  in  size,  the  legend 
of  the  Ten  Thousand  Martyrs,  Christians  massacred 
by  the  Persian  King  Sapor,  or  rather  Shahpour  II. 
Without  bringing  in  the  whole  number  of  martyrs. 


100  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

a  number  of  incidents  seein  to  have  exhausted  every 
mode  of  death  related  in  the  legends.  In  the  midst 
of  these  melancholy  sights,  Albert  Diirer  has  painted 
himself  and  his  friend  Willibald  Pirkheimer.*  Both 
are  in  mourning,  and  the  painter  holds  in  his  hand 
a  small  flag,  on  which  is  inscribed,  Iste  fadebat  anno 
Domini  1508,  ATbertus  Uurer  Alemanus.  The  prin- 
cipal defect  in  such  a  composition  is  its  want  of 
unity.  The  incidents  placed  in  juxtaposition,  which 
touch  each  other,  but  without  seeming  to  have  any 
connection,  appear  like  the  effect  of  a  bad  dream 
unfolding  scenes  of  blood.  But  this  defective  ar- 
rangement is  soon  forgotten  in  the  superior  qualities 
of  the  execution,  the  exquisite  finish,  the  brilliant 
though  sombre  coloring,  suited  to  the  subject  of  the 
picture,  and  the  powerful  expression,  as  well  in  the 
moral  beauty  of  some  of  the  martyred  saints,  as  in 
the  physical  repulsiveness  of  the  executioners.  It 
is  before  such  a  picture  that  we  can  say,  with  M. 
Charles  Blanc  :  "  The  real  unity  of  a  picture  consists 
in  the  sentiment.  The  actions  are  diverse,  but  the 
emotion  is  one." 

The  second  picture,  which  is  still  more  important, 
is  known  under  the  name  of  the  Adoration  of  the 
Trinity;  but  it  would  explain  the  subject  better  if  it 
were  called  by  a  vaster  name,  the  Christian  Religion. 
In  the  upper  part  of  the  picture  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
seen  hovering,  like  a  luminous  star,  in  the  midst  of 

*  It  was  Pirkheimer  who,  in  pronouncing  the  funeral  oration  of 
Albert  Diirer,  could  say  with  justice  of  his  friend,  "  that  he  united 
every  virtue  in  his  soul :  genius,  uprightness,  purity,  energy  and 
prudence,  gentleness  and  piety." 


GERMAN  SCHOOL. 


101 


a  band  of  little  cherubim  ;  then,  rather  lower,  the 
leather,  between  two  choirs  of  archangels  with  out- 
spread wings,  holding  before  His  breast  His  crucified 
Son.  But  this  is  a  small  part  of  the  composition. 
Below  the  Divine  Trinity  and  the  celestial  train 
there  extend  two  large  groups  of  saints  ;  to  the  left 
the  holy  woman,  where  some  who  sacrificed  their 
lives  to  their  faith  may  be  recognized  by  their  at- 
tributes-; to  the  right  the  saints,  patriarchs,  pro- 
phets, apostles,  and  martyrs.  Still  lower  are  two 
other  groups  no  less  considerable  :  under  the  female 
saints,  the  Pope  and  the  Church — that  is  to  say,  a 
procession  of  bishops,  priests,  monks,  and  nuns  ; 
under  the  male  saints,  the  emperor  and  the  state — 
that  is  to  say,  a  noble  train  of  armed  knights  and 
ladies  in  court  costume.  We  see  thus  how,  only  a 
few  years  before  Martin  Luther  shook  both  the  tiara 
and  the  crown  by  his  doctrines,  Albert  Diirer,  re- 
membering the  double  nature  of  the  God-Man,  on 
which  the  institutions  of  the  Middle  Ages  were 
modelled,  made  peace  between  the  Guelphs  and 
Ghibelines.  All  these  symbolical  circles,  all  these 
long  groups,  one  over  another,  float  in  space,  and 
stand  out  from  the  azure  of  the  sky  like  an  apoca- 
lyptic vision.  But  below  them,  to  the  horizon,  ex- 
tends a  real  earthly  scene.  A  peaceful  bay,  ter- 
minated in  the  distance  by  the  open  sea,  on  the  right 
by  rocks,  on  the  left  by  a  large  town,  and  in  the 
foreground  by  verdant  plains.  In  one  corner  of  the 
picture  may  be  seen  the  St.  John  of  this  Patrnos, 
Albert  Diirer  himself,  whose  long  curling  hair  falls 
from  a  red  cap  on  to  the  collar  of  a  fur  robe.  He 


102  BONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

is  standing,  and  places  his  hand  proudly  on  a  tablet, 
on  which  the  following  inscription  may  be  read : 
"  Albertvs.  Dvrer.  noricvs.  faciebai.  anno.  a.  Virginis. 
partv.  1511." 

This  great  work,  which  is  no  longer  wanting  in 
unity — is,  as  may  be  seen,  a  complete  poem.  Albert 
Durer  displays  in  it  all  his  high  qualities.  All  that 
may  be  found  in  his  other  works  of  imagination — 
force,  truth,  and  intimate  union  between  realism  in 
form  and  idealism  in  thought — are  united  here.  The 
only  regret  we  can  possibly  feel  is,  that  he  was  not 
able  to  preserve  himself  by  severity  of  taste  from 
the  usual  defects  of  his  time  and  school.  The 
grotesque  appears  too  often  in  a  subject  which 
should  be  wholly  sublime  ;  for  instance,  he  places 
amongst  the  ranks  of  the  glorified  popes  and  em- 
perors an  old  peasant  still  holding  his  flail  in  his 
hand.  This  is  a  noble  idea ;  labor  is  glorified. 
But  to  this  peasant,  the  equal  of  princes  and  saints, 
is  given  a  low,  ignoble  countenance.  This  is  un- 
doubtedly a  fault.  The  artist,  it  is  true,  endeavors 
to  redeem  it  by  the  perfection  of  the  work,  and  it  is 
scarcely  visible,  besides,  in  the  grandeur  of  the 
whole,  which  is  heightened  by  the  most  brilliant 
coloring  required  by  the  miraculous  vision.  Albert 
Durer  usually  places  merely  his  well-known  mono- 
gram to  his  ordinary  works,  which  his  copyists  have 
never  forgotten,  and  which  was  no  more  difficult  to 
imitate  than  the  letters  of  a  name.  But  by  signing 
these  two  works  with  his  whole  portrait  he  has 
given  them  a  special  stamp  of  authenticity,  an 
infallible  ne  varietur,  and,  still  more,  a  striking  mark 


GERMAN   SCHOOL.  103 

of  his  own  preference.  It  is  Albert  Diirer  himself, 
then,  who  calls  them  his  masterpieces.  After  the 
last-mentioned  picture  he  painted  fewer  pictures 
than  he  made  engravings  on  copper,  wood,  or  with 
aquafortis,  either  because  his  taste  led  him  naturally 
towards  these  other  works,  or  because  he  was  urged 
to  it  by  the  avarice  of  a  scolding  wife,  Agnes  Frey, 
who  tormented  his  life,  and  certainly  was  the  means 
of  shortening  it.* 

Amongst  the  works  of  his  immediate  disciples 
there  is  a  very  singular  one  which  vre  must  not  pass 
in  silence.  It  may  be  called  a  polyptych.  It  rep- 
resents on  the  principal  panel  a  Calvary,  in  which 
the  figures  are  half  the  size  of  life,  surrounded  by 
twelve  small  frames,  in  which  are  depicted  the 
scenes  of  the  life  and  passion  of  our  Lord ;  this 
panel  is  covered  by  three  pairs  of  shutters  on  both 
sides,  each  face  of  which  contains  at  least  twelve 
pictures  in  as  many  compartments.  The  whole 
forms  a  collection  of  fifty-six  pictures  around  the 
central  Calvary.  The  artist  has  drawn  from  the 
Gospels,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  Legends 
of  the  Saints.  He  has  even  introduced  the  devil, 
who  plays  a  part  in  several  malicious  compositions, 


*  It  is  not  here  that  we  must  speak  of  the  engravings  of  Albert 
Diirer,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  repeating,  to  show  the  profound 
genius  he  displayed  in  them,  a  short  judgment  pronounced  on  his 
figure  of  Melencolia  (engraved  in  1514).  This  figure  seems  to  say 
with  Solomon  :  "In  much  wisdom  is  grief ;  and  he  that  increas- 
eth  knowledge  increaseth  sorrow."  And  indeed,  one  of  the  most 
striking  characteristics  of  the  German  character  is  to  pursue 
science  with  an  agony  of  eagerness. 


104  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

where  the  pope  and  the  emperor  are  not  spared. 
In  one  of  these  scenes,  for  instance,  Satan  is  seen 
sowing  his  seed  freely  in  the  ground,  whilst  the 
pope  is  sleeping  on  a  luxurious  bed,  and  the  eni- 
peror  presides  at  a  rich  feast.  The  author  of  this 
curious  monument  (for  it  is  more  than  a  painting, 
and  the  manners  of  the  period  may  be  better 
studied  in  it  than  the  arts)  has  not  allowed  his 
name  to  be  known ;  either  from  modesty  or  fear, 
he  has  nowhere  left  his  signature  or  his  monogram. 
Between  Albert  Diirer  and  our  own  period  I  only 
find  three  names  worth  quoting  in  German  art — 
Denner,  Dietrich,  and  Mengs.  BALTHAZAR  DENNER, 
of  Hamburgh  (1685-1747),  is  assuredly  the  greatest 
finisher  who  ever  laid  color  on  canvas.  In  com- 
parison with  him  the  most  patient  Dutch  painters — 
Gerard  Dow,  Schalken,  Mieris,  Van  der  Werff — are 
mere  hasty,  unconscientious  daubers.  It  may  almost 
be  thought  that  he  worked  with  a  magnifying  glass, 
like  a  stone  engraver.  At  any  rate,  his  works  must 
be  examined  with  a  glass.  Denner  copies  with 
scrupulous  fidelity  every  undulation,  every  tint,  even 
the  slightest  down  on  the  skin ;  he  makes  a  hair 
seem  round,  and  gives  the  perspective  of  the  slight- 
est wrinkle.  He  attains  by  this  means  a  frightful 
accuracy.  His  portraits  are  a  kind  of  apparition, 
spectres  set  in  frames.  But  being  obliged  to  re- 
duce such  wonderful  labor  to  the  smallest  possible 
limits,  he  did  not  even  paint  busts,  but  confined 
himself  to  simple  masks,  faces  cut  off  below  the 
chin.  If,  then,  he  counted  the  hairs  of  his  models, 
he  took  from  them  a  far  more  important  part  of 


GERMAN    SCHOOL.  105 

fche  likeness — their  general  bearing,  attitude,  and 
grace. 

Denner  only  painted  faces  wrinkled  with  age, 
with  white  hair,  and  with  missing  teeth  ;  the  smooth- 
ness of  a  fresh  and  rosy  complexion  never  tempted 
him,  he  did  not  seek  after  the  beautiful,  nor  even 
the  pretty  ;  what  he  wanted  was  merely  feats  of 
skill.  However,  if,  in  these  portraits  as  patiently 
brought  to  perfection  with  the  pencil  as  La  Bruy- 
ere's  with  the  pen,  we  see  nothing  but  old  people,  I 
think  it  must  not  be  referred  either  to  the  accident 
of  his  orders  or  to  his  own  choice.  He  must  neces- 
sarily have  been  so  long  in  completing  a  work,  he 
must  have  required  so  many  sittings  and  employed 
so  many  years,  that  doubtless  between  the  com- 
mencement and  completion  of  his  portraits  his 
models  must  have  become  aged  both  in  years  and 
from  weariness.  How  few  of  such  works  would  be 
accomplished  in  a  lifetime  !  And,  besides,  by  em- 
ploying so  much  art,  this  kind  of  painting  ends  by 
no  longer  being  art ;  it  becomes  merely  an  effort  to 
deceive  the  eye.  It  is  statuary  in  wax.  How  much 
higher  is  the  method  employed  by  the  masters  of 
portrait  painting — Titian,  Holbein,  Velazquez,  Van 
Dyck,  and  Rembrandt.  They  understood  that  it  is 
better  to  reveal  the  soul  in  the  countenance  than 
trivial  physical  accidents  which  the  eye  scarcely 
notices  more  than  the  mind.  And  yet,  the  sight  of 
these  curious  works  of  Denner  is  doubly  useful, 
showing  at  once  to  what  extreme  perfection  patience 
may  attain,  and  also  the  abuse  of  this  precious 
quality,  and,  to  a  certain  degree,  its  vanity,  when 


106  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

no  other  superior  quality  accompanies  and  directs 
it ;  they  show  that  in  the  arts  other  and  higher 
conditions  are  required  for  genius,  or  even  for  simple 
talent. 

WILHELM  ERNEST  DIETRICH,  of  Weimar  (1712- 
1774;,  will  furnish  another  and  very  striking  proof 
of  this  truth.  Dietrich  is  the  Luca  fa  presto  of 
Germany.  A  universal  imitator  and  fruitful  copyist, 
he  has  performed  in  the  north  precisely  what  Luca 
Giordano  did  in  the  south.  We  will  confine  our- 
selves to  his  works  in  the  Dresden  gallery.  It  con- 
tains fifty-one  works  by  his  hand,  and  not  one  of 
these  can  be  called  original.  All  are  imitations  of 
the  most  different,  the  most  opposite  styles.  A 
Young  Woman  and  her  Children  at  a  window  appears 
to  be  copied  from  Gerard  Dow,  some  Bathers  from 
Poelemberg,  and  two  pendents  representing  the 
Golden  Age  in  the  style  of  Van  der  Werff ;  some 
Cuirassiers  on  March  strongly  recall  Salvator  Rosa, 
and  even  a  Holy  Family,  in  an  Italian  landscape, 
which  might  be  attributed  to  some  pupil  of  Raphael 
himself.  We  may  also  find  Elzheimer,  Adrian 
Ostade,  Karel  Dujardin,  Berghem,  Jan  Both,  Van 
der  Meulen,  Jacques  Courtois,  and  Watteau.  But 
yet  it  is  Rembrandt  whom  Dietrich  imitates  most 
frequently  and  with  the  greatest  success.  There  is, 
for  example,  a  Saint  Simeon,  a  Christ  curing  the  Sick, 
and  portraits  of  old  men  in  oriental  costumes,  which 
might  be  taken  for  works  of  Ferdinand  Bol,  Victors, 
Fabricius,  or  any  other  direct  pupil  of  the  great 
Dutch  painter.  So  much  diversity  in  the  works  of 
the  same  artis  trenders  him,d  oubtless,  curious  as  a 


GERMAN   SCHOOL.  107 

study ;  but  whatever  talent  he  may  lavish  on  uni- 
versal imitation,  as  he  always  remains  a  disciple  he 
cannot  pretend  to  the  name  of  master.  It  might  be 
said  of  him  what  Michael  Angelo  said  to  Baccio 
Bandinelli,  "  Who  walks  behind  another,  will  never 
pass  him  by." 

If  wo  were  to  form  our  opinion  of  RAPHAEL  MENGS 
beforehand,  from  the  description  of  Winckelmann, 
we  should  be  nmch  surprised  when  we  came  to  see 
his  works  for  ourselves.  This  is  what  the  author  of 
the  f  History  of  Art  among  the  Ancients  '  says  in  his 
chapter  on  Beauty :  "All  the  beauties  which  ancient, 
artists  gave  to  their  figures  are  to  be  found  in  the 
immortal  works  of  M.  Anton  Raphael  Mengs,  first 
painter  at  the  courts  of  Spain  and  Poland,  the  great- 
est artist  of  his  time,  and,  perhaps,  of  future  ages. 
We  might  almost  say  that  he  is  Raphael  himself, 
risen  like  the  phoenix  from  his  ashes  to  teach  to  the 
universe  the  perfection  of  art,  and  attain  himself  as 
much  perfection  as  is  possible  for  human  forces. 
The  German  nation  justly  prides  itself  on  having 
produced  a  philosopher  who,  in  the  times  of  our 
fathers,  enlightened  sages  and  strewed  the  seeds  of 
knowledge  among  all  nations  (Leibnitz,  I  suppose). 
It  now  only  remained  for  her  to  give  the  world  a 
restorer  of  art,  and  to  see  the  German  Raphael  re- 
cognized and  admired  as  such  at  Rome,  the  very 
seat  of  the  arts."  To  understand  the  hyperbole  of 
this  language,  we  must  remember  that  the  son  of  the 
poor  cobbler  of  St.  Stendal,  when  he  at  last  suc- 
ceeded in  coming  to  Rome,  when  already  thirty- 
eight  years  of  age,  was  received  and  lodged  in  the 


108  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

house  of  Raphael  Mengs.  "We  must  also  remember 
that  he  wrote  some  time  afterwards  to  his  friend 
Uden  :  "  I  am  grieved  at  being  obliged  through  po- 
liteness to  recognize  some  advantages  to  certain 
modern  artists.  The  moderns  are  asses  compared 
to  the  ancients." 

We  will  seek  a  medium  between  the  "  ass  "  and 
the  "  first  artist  of  future  ages."  Mengs  discovered 
in  a  period  of  decay  and  abandonment  some  vestiges 
of  the  art  of  the  greater  periods ;  he  sought  for 
severity  of  drawing,  nobility  of  style,  ideal  beauty, 
and  deserved  from  the  Italian  qualities  to  be  called 
by  Cean  Bermudcz  the  greatest  painter  of  his  age. 
The  somewhat  two  great  delicacy  of  his  pencil,  how- 
ever, recall  the  first  lessons  he  received  for  miniature 
painting.  He  was  born  in  1728,  in  Aussig,  a  small 
town  of  Bohemia  ;  and  his  father,  Ishmael  Mengs,  a 
painter  on^  enamel,  wishing  to  devote  him  to  paint- 
ing from  his  earliest  days,  named  him  after  Correg- 
gio  and  Sanzio,  Anton  Raphael.  With  this  aim, 
which  he  pursued  constantly  and  severely  with  a 
sort  of  monomania,  the  elder  Mengs  never  put  into 
his  son's  hands  any  other  plaything  than  a  pencil, 
so  that  the  child  could  draw  before  he  learned  to 
read  ;  and  when  at  twelve  years  of  age  he  accompa- 
nied his  father  to  Rome,  he  was  shut  up  in  the  Vati- 
can every  day,  from  morning  to  evening,  like  a  pris- 
oner, with  some  bread  and  a  pitcher  of  water,  his 
father  only  coming  for  him  at  the  approach  of  night, 
Having  become  painter  to  the  Elector  King,  Augus- 
tus III.,  Mengs  was  obliged  to  fly  from  Dresden 
when  the  great  Frederick  seized  that  capital.  He 


GERMAN   SCHOOL.  109 

returned  to  Italy,  went  to  Naples,  to  Charles  III., 
who  took  him  with  him  to  Spain,  and  he  resided  at 
Madrid  until  his  last  illness,  in  1779. 

Unlike  his  predecessor  at  the  court  of  Spain,  the 
Neapolitan,  Luca  Giordano,  Mengs  worked  like  the 
Germans,  with  much  deliberation  and  reflection. 
He  was  not,  like  the  generality  of  painters,  satisfied 
with  merely  a  sketch  or  roughly-painted  design  to 
assist  him  in  his  compositions  ;  making  use  both  of 
antique  models  and  of  nature,  and  forming  an  elabo- 
rate synthesis,  he  first  drew  each  separate  limb,  then 
the  figure,  afterwards  each  group,  and  lastly  the 
whole  composition.  Through  this  method  the  num- 
ber of  his  studies  was  immense,  and  that  of  his  pic- 
tures very  limited,  for  he  passed  months  and  even 
years  in  completing  his  preparations.  The  works 
of  Mengs  are  very  rare  in  France  ;  he  has  left  some 
in  Saxony,  in  Italy,  and  many  more  in  Spam.  The 
Museo  del  Key  possesses,  amongst  others,  an 
Adoration  of  the  Shepherds,  which  is  considered  his 
masterpiece.  The  last  figure  in  the  left  hand  group 
in  this  painting  is  a  portrait  of  the  painter  himself. 
Mengs,  who  was  also  a  learned  man,  has  left 
'  Thoughts  on  Painting  and  Reflections  on  Painters,' 
which  would  form,  in  the  opinion  of  his  biographer, 
Cean  Berinudez,  the  best  elementary  treatise  on  the 
subject.  He  had  no  follower  but  his  charming 
pupil  ANGELICA  KAUFFMANN,  no  less  celebrated  for 
her  wit,  her  grace,  her  amiability,  and  her  romantic 
story  in  connection  with  the  pretended  Count  of 
Horn,  than  for  her  remarkable  talent  in  portrait 


110  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

painting,  wliich  she  carried  on  at  Rome  towards  the 
end  of  the  last  century. 

Angelica  Kauffrnann  brings  us  to  the  efforts  at 
renovation  in  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century. 

The  Germans,  who  joined  in  the  European  work 
of  a  fresh  revival  in  art  twenty  years  later  than 
the  French  under  Louis  David,  undertook  their 
mission  in  an  entirely  different  spirit.  Instead  of 
carrying  art  forward,  they  turned  back,  and  rather 
than  go  on  resolutely  to  the  discovery  of  an  un- 
known future,  they  thought  it  more  prudent  to  re- 
turn to  the  past,  and  to  take  refuge  in  archaism.  At 
the  death  of  Albert  Diirer,  artistic  Germany  fell 
asleep  as  if  in  the  cavern  of  Epimenides.  Aroused 
at  last  by  the  rumor  of  the  revival  of  the  arts  in 
France,  she  resumed  her  task  where  it  had  been  left 
at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  was  to 
Rome  that  she  once  more  turned  in  order  to  rekin- 
dle the  extinguished  flame.  The  history  of  the  little 
German  colony  is  well  known  which,  in  1810, 
crossed  the  mountains  under  the  direction  of  M. 
Frederic  Owerbeck,  and  established  at  Rome  a  con- 
vent of  artists,  where  all  the  subsequent  heads  of 
schools  were  formed,  Peter  Cornelis,  "Wilhelm  Scha- 
dow,  Philip  Veit,  Jules  Schnorr,  Karl  Vogel,  Hein- 
rich  Hess,  etc.  They  followed  to  the  letter  the 
paradoxical  advice  of  Lanzi,  "  that  modern  artists 
should  study  the  artists  of  the  times  preceding 
Raphael ;  for  Raphael,  springing  from  these  paint- 
ers, is  superior  to  them,  whilst  those  who  followed 
him  have  not  equalled  him."  Their  enthusiasm  for 


GERMAN   SCHOOL.  Ill 

wnat  they  called  the  "  Christian  ideal,"  for  art  an- 
terior to  the  religious  reformation,  led  them  even  to 
renounce  the  religion  of  their  fathers.  The  Pro- 
testants became  Catholics,  and  M.  Owerbeck,  who 
set  the  example  of  the  abjuration  as  well  as  of  the 
exile,  was  not  satisfied  with  returning  to  the  age  of 
Leo  X. ;  he  endeavored  to  adapt  the  types  of  Ra- 
phael, where  Grecian  beauty  is  visible,  to  the  mystic 
style  of  Fra  Angelico.  The  illiberal  and  bigoted 
reaction  which  followed  the  success  of  the  coalitions 
against  France,  and  the  natural  taste  of  the  Germans 
for  the  science  of  the  past,  led  astray  both  princes 
and  people.  It  was  under  this  influence  that  the 
renovation  was  accomplished. 

It  imprinted  on  German  painting  a  capital, 
irremediable  defect ;  to  avoid  the  fault  with  which 
they  reproached  the  Dutch — that  of  not  knowing 
how  to  idealize  the  real — the  Germans  have  fallen 
into  the  opposite  extreme,  of  being  unable  to  realize 
the  ideal.  "  Whilst  science,"  says  M.  Vacherot, 
"  explains  reality  by  ideas,  art  expresses  ideas  by  re- 
ality. The  harmony  of  these  two  terms— ideal  and 
real — is  the  law  of  esthetic  works.  The  realist,  who 
limits  art  to  the  imitation  of  the  real,  and  the  ideal- 
ist who  wanders  into  the  pure  ideal,  never  violate  it 
with  impunity.  The  one  remains  incomplete,  the 
other  powerless.  The  latter  cannot  succeed  in  giv- 
ing a  body  to  the  idea,  nor  the  former  in  giving  an 
idea  to  reality.  Ideas  without  forms  to  realize  them, 
forms  and  colors  without  thoughts  to  idealize  them, 
expression  without  life,  life  without  expression,  such 
is  the  alternative  to  which  the  artist  is  condemned 


112  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

who  listens  to  either  of  the  exclusive  schools.  Syn- 
thesis is  the  safety  of  art,  which  is  nothing  unless  it 
be  a  symbol  and  a  language." 

The  Germans  of  Rome  could  not  speak  this  lan- 
guage, and  it  was  because  they  could  not  express 
the  ideal  by  the  real,  that  they  remained  so  power- 
less. Goethe  knew  the  productions  of  this  school, 
and  yet  it  is  said  that  the  illustrious  author  of 
*  Faust,'  when  taken  in  his  old  age  to  see  the  Gothic 
collection  of  the  brothers  Boisseree,  and  pressed  to 
give  his  opinion  on  these  curiosities  of  German  art, 
said  with  a  sigh  :  "  I  see,  indeed,  the  bud,  but 
where  is  the  blossom  ?"  This  word  of  Goethe  is 
just  and  profound,  German  art  has  had  no  flower, 
or,  at  all  events,  if  it  have  blossomed,  it  was  in  the 
Netherlands.  There  Rubens  and  Rembrandt  have 
been  the  highest  expression  of  northern  art. 

Instead  of  entering  here  into  an  analysis*  of  the 
works  of  this  school,  I  prefer  in  the  following  re- 
marks to  reason  in  generalities  without  any  particu- 
lar application,  in  order  to  show  how  modern  Ger- 
man art  seems  to  me  stained  with  two  vices,  equally 
serious,  equally  irremediable ;  it  is  taken  from  an- 
other time  and  from  another  country. 

To  borrow  of  another  time  appears  to  me  equally 
fatal,  both  to  matter  and  to  form.  As  regards  mat- 
ter, art  and  society  must  be  contemporaneous,  in 
order  that  the  one  may  be  but  a  form  of  the  other, 

*  This  analysis  of  the  works  of  the  German  Renaissance  ma^  be 
found  in  the  chapter  *  Salle  des  Fetes,'  in  the  Glyptothek  of  Mm 
nich  (Musees  d'Allemagne,  Third  Edition,  pp.  145-163),  and  in  tb* 
chapter  *  Musee  de  Francfort-sur-Mein'  (pp.  398,  and  following.) 


GERMAN  SCHOOL.  113 

so  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  resuscitate  with  the 
art  the  beliefs  and  manners  also  of  that  time.  We 
should  have  to  require  in  the  present  instance  that 
the  Divina  Commedia,  the  Christian  trilogy  of  hell, 
purgatory,  and  paradise,  should  be  once  more  the 
popular  poem ;  we  should  have  to  revive,  with  the 
simple,  blind  credulity  of  the  Middle  Ages,  a  gen- 
eral taste  for  subjects  which  then,  far  from  being 
exhausted,  were  still  in  their  freshness  and  novel  fcy. 
I  do  not  pretend  that  Raphael  or  Giotto,  who,  the 
one  at  the  commencement,  the  other  at  the  close  of 
the  long  task,  emancipated  art  from  dogma,  were 
either  of  them  very  devout ;  and  I  willingly  agree 
that  M.  Owerbeck,  a  new  convert  to  the  Catholic 
faith,  was  more  devout  than  Perugino,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  an  atheist.  I  speak  of  society  in 
general,  of  its  manners  and  tastes,  and  affirm  that 
everything  has  changed  in  the  last  two  centuries, 
even  in  Germany,  since  the  time  of  Luther  and  the 
Reformation  ;  since  the  times  of  Leibnitz,  Spinoza, 
Kant,  Lessing,  and  Goethe.  No  one  can  go  back- 
wards in  the  stream  of  time. 

We  now  come  to  form.  For  this  we  ought  to  find 
once  more  a  natural,  unstudied  and  simple  ingenuity, 
the  merit,  in  short,  of  native  originality.  How  can 
one  be  an  imitator  without  falling  into  the  defects 
inherent  to  imitation  ?  The  style  becomes  stiff  and 
artificial  which  should  remain  simple  and  unaffected ; 
it  becomes  exaggerated  when  nobility  and  force  are 
sought  for.  Instead  of  the  simple  and  childlike 
ignorance — like  a  new-born  child — which  art  ex- 
hibits when  it  is  marching  on  to  perfection,  it  is 


114  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

erudite,  like  an  old  man,  and  bears  the  infallible 
signs  of  approaching  decrepitude.  It  is  the  time 
of  commentaries  in  literature ;  it  is  the  time 
when  there  is  much  reasoning  on  art,  though  with- 
out its  being  much  practised,  when  we  know  why, 
and  how,  there  were  great  masters,  after  having  lost 
the  secret  to  make  them.  And  then,  when  we  ad- 
mire an  ancient  painting,  our  admiration  becomes 
mingled  with  a  sentiment  of  respect  and  love  quite 
personal  to  the  artist ;  we  love  the  traces  of  the 
hands  of  Giotto,  Fra  Angelico,  Leonardo  da  Vinci, 
and  Raphael.  They  become  holy  relics  as  well  as 
fine  works.  If  a  modern  artist  painted  like  them, 
even  if  it  were  as  well  as  they,  his  works  would  still 
be  wanting  in  that  powerful  attraction  which  com- 
pletes the  superiority  of  the  originals  over  imitations. 
By  recurring  to  the  fifteenth  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  Germans  could  only  make  copies. 

If  to  transplant  painting  from  one  period  to 
another  be  a  serious  injury  to  the  success  of  the 
foundation  of  a  school,  to  transplant  painting  from 
one  country  to  another  is  no  less  grave  an  error. 
The  Italian  masters  are  really  only  thoroughly 
known  and  appreciated  in,  Italy,  the  Spaniards  in 
Spain,  the  Flemings  in  Flanders.  In  order  thor- 
oughly to  appreciate  any  master,  wre  must  have  be- 
fore our  eyes  the  scenes  in  which  they  lived,  the 
living  types  which  served  them  as  models,  the  man- 
ners and  customs  which  they  shared  with  their 
fellow-countrymen  ;  in  order  to  explain  their  choice 
of  subjects,  we  must  have  the  style,  manner,  form, 
color ;  in  fact,  all  the  accessories  of  their  works. 


GEEMAN    SCHOOL.  115 

An  example  will  make  this  clearer  :  Claude  Lor- 
raine and  Jacob  Kuysdael  are,  in  my  opinion,  the 
two  great  portraitists  of  nature,  the  two  greatest 
landscape  painters.  Whence  comes,  then,  the  great 
distance  that  separates  them  ?  From  the  countries 
in  which  they  lived.  The  one  saw  the  sun  rise  and 
set  in  Italy,  in  a  warm,  luminous  atmosphere,  over 
the  seas  which  surround  the  peninsula,  or  behind 
the  mountains  which  crown  it ;  the  other  the  flat, 
cloudy  and  verdant  pastures  of  the  Netherlands, 
under  a  pale,  misty  sky  ;  the  one  shared  all  the 
idealism  of  the  Italians,  the  other  all  the  realism  of 
the  Dutch ;  the  difference  between  Claude  and 
Euysdael  is  thus  explained.  Change  their  coun- 
tries ;  from  being  truthful  they  both  become  false. 
In  a  word,  painting  is  a  medium  for  ideas,  modified 
by  the  place  and  the  period  in  which  the  painter 
lives.  It  is  understood,  like  literature,  by  its  period, 
and,  still  more  than  literature,  by  its  country,  since 
it  reproduces  visible  aspects  objectively.  To  bring, 
then,  Italian  art  into  Germany  was  a  second  mis- 
take equal  to  that  of  trying  to  revive  the  art  of  the 
Middle  Ages  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  Italians  had,  doubtless,  already  been  much 
imitated ;  in  Spain,  in  Flanders,  and  even  in  Ger- 
many— and  these  happy  importations  had  refreshed 
or  completed  the  other  schools.  But  in  this  case 
the  imitations  were  almost  simultaneous  with  the 
originals.  Thus,  to  take  a  single  example,  Juan 
Joanes  learned  in  the  studio  of  Eaphael,  and  El 
Mudo  studied  under  Titian.  M.  Owerbeck  and  his 
companions,  however,  took  lessons  of  no  living  mas- 


116  WONDERS  OF  TAINTING. 

ter  in  Italy.  Nor  is  this  all ;  when  Italian  art  was 
carried  into  other  countries,  it  was  immediately 
modified,  transformed  according  to  the  nature,  the 
types,  manners,  ideas,  and  objects  to  be  found  in 
those  countries.  Eubens  and  Murillo  both  obtained 
their  art  from  Italy,  through  their  masters  and 
predecessors  ;  but  they  belong  none  the  less  to  the 
Flemish  and  Spanish  schools  respectively.  The  mis- 
take of  the  Germano-Koman  school  is,  certainly, 
not  the  having  studied  art,  or  even  primitive  art,  so 
worthy  of  study  and  respect  in  Italy  ;  but  rather  the 
having  transplanted  into  Germany  Italian  art  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  They  have  committed  in  painting 
the  mistake  of  the  English  architects,  when  they 
introduced  into  their  cold  damp  climate  the  archi- 
tectural forms  of  the  East,  of  those  hot  countries 
where  people  pass  their  lives  in  the  open  air.  By 
abandoning  the  architecture  of  the  North  for  that 
of  the  South,  the  English  have  spoiled  everything, 
even  to  the  column. 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  support  my  arguments  on 
this  subject  by  the  opinion  of  a  German,  and  of  that 
German  who  was,  perhaps,  the  primary  cause  of  the 
faults  of  this  school.  Winckelmann,  disgusted  with 
the  insufficiency  of  the  Coypels,  the  Vanloos,  the 
Bouchers,  turned  to  antique  statuary.  And  he  thus 
led  art  from  one  fault  to  another,  de  vicio  in  vicium 
ftecti.  His  retrospective  fanaticism  brought  in  that 
of  Owerbeck  and  Corneliiis.  Winckelmann  explains 
with  much  sense  how  it  was  that  the  attempts  of 
regeneration  made  under  the  Antonines  remained 
vain  and  fruitless.  This  was  because  the  artists  of 


GERMAN   SCHOOL.  117 

that  time,  although  "well  intentioned,"  endeavored 
to  revive  art  by  imitation,  by  going  back  to  the 
origin,  even  so  far  as  to  the  sacerdotal  style  of  the 
Etruscans  and  Egyptians.  Devoted  to  science  even 
to  pedantry,  they  sacrificed  essentials  to  minute  ac- 
cessories, not  considered  worth  notice  in  times  of 
genius.  Petronius — arbiter  elegantarium,  as  Nero 
said — had  already  pitied  the  fate  of  art,  spoiled  by 
a  meagre  and  restricted  style ;  and  Quintilian  made 
as  just  a  criticism  on  the  artists  who  were  his  con- 
temporaries, by  saying  that  they  would  have  made 
the  ornaments  of  the  Jupiter  of  Phidias  better  than 
Phidias  himself.  "  The  gods  and  heroes,"  says 
Winckelmann,  "  had  been  represented  in  every  pos- 
sible attitude  ;  the  forms  seemed,  so  to  speak,  ex- 
hausted ;  a  circumstance  which  opened 'the  career 
of  imitation.  ...  As  it  seemed  impossible  to  sur- 
pass a  Praxiteles  or  an  Apelles,  they  endeavored  to 
equal  them  by  remaining  under  the  yoke  of  imita- 
tion. Art  had  the  same  fate  as  philosophy.  In  the 
former,  as  in  the  latter,  there  was  an  eclectic  school, 
who,  wanting  strength  and  genius  to  invent,  con- 
fined themselves  to  collecting  separate  beauties  and 
forming  one  beautiful  whole.  As  the  eclectic  phi- 
losophers having  produced  nothing  original,  can 
only  be  esteemed  copyists,  so  those  who  follow  the 
same  method  in  art  are  only  servile  imitators,  who 
produce  nothing  original  and  perfect.  .  ." 

Is  there  not  an  evident  resemblance  between  these 
Roman  artists,  in  the  time  of  Adrian,  going  to 
ancient  Egypt  to  seek  a  fresh  youth  for  exhausted 
statuary,  and  the  German  artists  of  the  present  time| 


118  WONDEES   OF  PAINTING. 

also  well  intentioned,  seeking  in  the  Home  of  the 
fifteenth  century  a  new  school  of  painting  for  their 
country  ?  They  possessed  a  high  and  even  proud 
ideal,  a  logical  conception  making  consequences  flow 
from  principle,  and  an  extensive  and  accurate  know- 
ledge. Where  should  the  science  of  archaeology  be 
found,  if  not  in  the  country  of  Niebuhr  and  Muller  ? 
Monstrous  anachronisms  must  be  left  to  Titian, 
Veronese,  Rubens,  and  Kernbrandt,  and  errors  of 
geography  to  Shakespeare  and  Cervantes.  And  yet, 
has  the  modern  eclectic  school  of  art  been  more 
happy  in  its  attempt  than  the  ancients  were  in  the 
time  of  the  Antonines  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  it  must 
be  confessed  that  the  faith  of  this  school  was  greater 
than  its  works. 

Happily,  German  art  has  not  persisted  in  this  blind 
alley  where  progress  was  impossible.  The  school  of 
Diisseldorf,  from  MM.  Kaulbach  and  Lessiug  to 
M.  Knaus,  and  the  school  of  Munich,  with  MM. 
Piloty,  Adam,  Horschelt,  Lier,  etc.,  by  returning  to 
picturesque  truth  have  returned  to  their  own  times 
and  to  their  own  country. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SCHOOLS  OF  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES. 

WHEN  writing  a  work  on  the  Musees  $  Europe,  in 
which  it  was  necessary  to  have  as  much  clearness  and 
diversity  as  possible,  and  to  make  use  of  every  divi- 
sion at  all  allowable,  I  could  never  make  up  my  mind 
to  separate  absolutely  the  Flemish  from  the  Dutch 
school.  Their  formal  division  could  be  of  no  interest 
and  no  utility,  besides  being  impossible.  These 
schools  are  so  strictly  bound  together  in  the  history 
of  art,  bo.th  by  the  lessons  of  common  masters  and 
by  the  employment  of  the  same  style  and  processes, 
that  we  could  only  make  a  purely  geographical  divi- 
sion. The  masters  would  have  to  be  separated 
merely  as  chance  had  placed  their  birth  to  the  right 
or  left  of  that  imaginary  line  which  was  made  the 
frontier  between  the  two  ancient  halves  of  the  Low 
Countries.  This  would  be  puerile,  and,  in  fact,  ab- 
surd ;  for  a  strict  application  of  this  rule  would  restore 
Rubens  to  Germany,  because  he  happened  to  be 
born  at  Cologne,  or  rather  at  Siegen,  in  the  duchy  of 
Nassau.  Now,  I  would  ask,  what  connection  is  there 
between  Rubens  and  the  German  school?  And  where 
would  Flemish  art  be  without  Eubens  ?  It  would  be 
Italy  without  Eaphael,  a  building  without  a  roof,  a 


120  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

kingdom  without  a  king ;  it  would  be  like  our  planet- 
ary system  with  its  sun  taken  away  and  thrown  into 
the  midst  of  another  system.  For  the  same  reason 
we  should  have  to  separate  Lucas  of  Leyden  from 
Van  Eyck ;  Quintin  Matsys  from  Lucas  of  Leyden  ; 
Eubens  from  his  master,  Otto  Venius  ;  Diepenbeck 
and  Van  Thulden  from  their  master,  Rubens ;  and 
David  Teniers  from  Adrain  Brauwer  (who,  though 
born  in  Holland,  died  at  Antwerp),  and  from  the 
Ostades,  who  was  born  at  Lubeck,  though  they 
passed  the  greater  part  of  their  life  in  Holland. 

Or  else,  seeking  a  more  rational  basis  for  this 
division  of  the  schools  than  merely  the  accident  of 
birth  on  one  or  other  side  of  a  stream,  must  we 
consult  biographical  notices  or  parish  registers  to 
discover,  if  possible,  what  faith  each  master  pro- 
fessed ?  It  would  be  a  better  ground  to  go  on, 
although  new  to  art,  to  make  a  division  between 
Catholic  and  Protestant  painters.  This  would  be, 
however,  very  difficult ;  for,  if  we  frequently  cannot 
succeed  in  discovering,  even  with  artists  of  reputa- 
tion, their  native  place  and  the  date  of  their  birth 
or  death,  how  could  we  find  the  registry  of  their 
baptism  ?  Besides,  we  should  sometimes  meet  with 
another  difficulty,  as  in  the  case  of  Jordaens,  who 
was  born  a  Catholic  and  became  a  Protestant  in 
middle  life.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  difference  of 
belief  in  the  Christian  religion  explains  certain  dif- 
ferences in  the  choice  of  subjects  and  manner  of 
treating  them,  as  we  showed  when  speaking  of  Lucas 
Cranach,  the  distinctions  are  not  sufficiently  defi- 
nite, nor  the  characteristics  sufficiently  plain,  to 


SCHOOLS  OF  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES.       121 

form  a  real  line  of  demarcation  between  the  schools, 
showing  their  diversity  at  first  sight.  M.  Charles 
Blanc  has  endeavored  to  justify  this  division  of  the 
two  schools  by  the  following  observations  :  "  Whilst 
the  Flemings,  following  the  example  of  Eubens, 
paint  large  pictures  with  much  breadth  and  fire,  the 
Dutch  labor  patiently  at  small  pictures  in  a  careful, 
precise,  and  finished  style."  But  if  Kubens  and  his 
pupils  in  Flanders  have  treated  large  compositions, 
it  appears  to  me  that  Kembrandt  and  his  pupils  in 
Holland  have  in  general  done  the  same  ;  and  if  the 
Dutch  have  usually  painted  with  patience  and  deli- 
cacy, Teniers  and  his  large  train  of  disciples  and 
imitators  have  followed  the  same  road  with  similar 
success  in  Flanders.  Should  we,  then,  call  Rem- 
brandt a  Fleming,  and  Teniers  a  Dutchman  ? 

Surely  it  would  be  better  to  unite  the  sister  schools 
of  Flanders  and  Holland,  and  call  it  by  the  general 
name  of  the  Low  Countries,  since  the  two  countries 
were  frequently  united  under  this  common  name. 
But,  as  in  the  general  Italian  school  the  Venetian  is 
separated  from  the  Florentine,  and  as  in  the  Spanish 
the  Castilian  is  separated  from  the  Andalusian,  it 
will  be  as  well  in  the  general  school  of  the  Low 
Countries  to  separate  the  Dutch  from  the  Flemish. 
They  will  thus  form,  as  in  the  classifications  of 
natural  history,  two  genera  of  an  order.  This  rea- 
sonable distinction  should  satisfy  all.  I  think,  be- 
sides, that  it  may  be  established  without  too  much 
arbitrariness,  by  seeking  the  assistance  of  geography 
and  history,  and  by  studying  the  differences  that 
might  arise  from  religion,  style,  and  processes. 


122  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 


FLEMISH    SCHOOL. 

The  town  of  Bruges  may  claim,  in  painting,  the 
priority  even  over  Antwerp,  which  usurped  from  her 
at  the  same  time  the  supremacy  in  commerce,  po- 
litics, and  art.  It  was  at  Bruges  that  the  brothers 
HUBERT  (1366—1426)  and  JAN  (before  1390—1441) 
VAN  EYCK  lived  and  died.  We  have  already  seen 
that  Hubert  was  the  real  teacher  of  his  younger 
brother,  and  that  Jan  (who  was  called  Jan  oi 
Bruges),  if  he  did  not  exactly  invent  the  process  of 
painting  in  oil,  at  all  events  carried  it  to  perfection 
and  brought  it  into  common  use,  so  that  it  is  to  him 
that  is  owing  the  great  revolution  in  the  art  of 
painting.  We  must  now  examine  their  works. 
Those  of  Hubert— at  least,  those  which  in  our 
opinion  are  authentic — are  extremely  rare.  Bruges, 
Antwerp,  Berlin,  and  Carlsruhe  are  the  only  towns 
that  can,  with  any  appearance  of  reason,  boast  of 
possessing  any  in  their  galleries.  We  shall  do  well 
to  study  both  brothers  at  once  in  a  vast  work,  which 
they  certainly  commenced,  if  they  did  not  complete 
it  together.  The  almost  architectural  symmetry 
of  this  work  would  cause  it  to  be  classed  in  an  ear- 
lier style  of  art,  whilst  its  exquisite  perfection  opens 
a  fresh  career  in  the  art  of  painting. 

In  the  first  place,  we  must  say  a  word  as  to  the 
history  of  this  vast  composition. 

The  families  Vydts  and  Burlut  had  ordered  of 
the  brothers  Van  Eyck  a  grand  altar-piece  for  their 
mortuary  chapel  in  the  church  of  St.  Bavon,  of 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  123 

Ghent.  Instead  of  a  single  picture,  the  Van  Eycks, 
taking  as  their  subject  the  Ecce  Agnus  Dei  qui  tollit 
peccata  mundi,  made  a  polyptych  formed  of  twelve 
panels,  with  their  shutters,  forming  altogether 
twenty-four  pictures  divided  into  two  rows,  having 
five  panels  in  the  one,  and  seven  in  the  other.  The 
first  has  remained  at  Ghent,  as  well  as  the  central 
panel  for  the  second,  which  contains  the  Worship  of 
the  Lamb.  The  rest  of  the  lower  panels  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Berlin  Museum,  where  the  whole  com- 
position is  completed  by  the  excellent  copies  made 
in  the  sixteenth  century  by  Michael  Coxis.  The 
following  is  the  description  of  the  six  panels  at 
Berlin  : — 1.  The  Righteous  Judges  (Justi  Judices). 
Ten  figures  on  horseback  in  a  Flemish  landscape  ; 
the  judge  mounted  on  a  grey  horse  in  the  foreground 
is  Hubert  Van  Eyck ;  the  one  in  black,  a  little  far- 
ther back,  is  thought  to  be  Jan  Van  Eyck ;  and  what 
confirms  this  traditional  belief  is,  that  the  face  is 
turned  round  in  a  singular  manner,  as  if  he  had 
painted  himself  from  a  mirror. — 2.  The  Holy  Warriors 
(Milites  Christi).  Nine  figures  also  on  horseback, 
with  a  landscape  background,  and  all  in  warlike 
costumes.  In  the  foreground  may  be  recognized 
St.  George,  Charlemagne,  Godfrey  de  Bouillon, 
Baldwin  of  Constantinople,  and  St.  Louis. — 3  and  4. 
Concerts  of  Angels,  some  singing,  others  playing  on 
instruments — the  organ,  harp,  violoncello,  etc.  Be- 
tween these  two  concerts  there  should  be  placed  the 
Worship  of  the  Lamb. — 5.  The  Hermits.  Ten  figures 
assembled  in  a  wild  place,  a  sort  of  ravine.  It  is 
easy  to  recognize  the  hermits  St.  Paul  and  St.  An- 


124  WONDEKS   OF   PAINTING. 

tony.  St.  Magdalen  and  St.  Mary  the  Egpytian. — 
6.  The  Pilgrims.  The  giant  Christopher  is  leading 
seventeen  pilgrims  of  different  ages  and  countries.* 
On  the  old  frames  of  the  shutters,  which  are  still 
preserved,  may  be  read  the  following  inscription, 
although  some  parts,  having  been  effaced  by  time, 
have  been  found  in  later  copies  : — 

"  Pictor  Hubertus  e  Eyck,  major  quo  nemo  repertus 
Incepit :  pondusque  Johannes  arte  secundus 
Frater  perfecit,  Judoci  Vyd  prece  fretus. 

VersV  seXta  Mai  Vos  CoLLoCat  aCta  tVerl." 

This  inscription  signifies  that  the  work  of  the 
painters  of  Bruges  was  terminated  May  6th,  1432. 
It  also  signifies  that  Hubert  Van  Eyck  commenced 
the  work,  and  that  his  brother  Jan  finished  it ;  but, 
as  Hubert  was  dead  by  1426,  it  is  quite  presumable 
that  Jan  did  the  greater  part  of  the  whole  work,  and 
especially  the  lower  row,  which  I  have  just  described. 
Although  he  is  only  arte  secundus  in  age,  he  is  as- 
suredly first  in  the  use  of  their  joint  discoveries,  and 
in  the  great  perfection  to  which  he  carried  the  pro- 
cesses. These  fragments,  even  those  by  his  hand, 
are,  however,  very  unequal  in  style  and  in  propor- 
tions. In  the  groups  of  the  celestial  musicians, 


*  In  the  landscapes  of  the  two  latter  panels,  Van  Eyck  has  in- 
troduced the  orange  tree,  the  stone  pine,  the  cypress,  and  the 
palm — southern  trees  which  he  had  seen  in  Portugal,  when,  in 
1428,  he  accompanied  the  Sire  de  Bourbon,  who  was  charged  by 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  Philip  the  Good,  to  ask  of  the  King  Juan 
I.  the  hand  of  his  daughter  Isabella.  Van  Eyck  was  commissioned 
to  bring  to  the  duke  a  portrait  of  his  bride. 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  125 

where  the  painter  seems  to  have  desired  to  distin- 
guish two  sexes,  making  men  and  worn  n  angels, 
the  figures  are  almost  of  life-size,  whilst  in  the  other 
more  complicated  subjects  the  numerous  figures  are 
only  about  a  foot  high.  There  is,  if  I  am  not  mis- 
taken, as  great  a  difference  in  merit  as  in  form  be- 
kween  these  two  styles  of  composition.  I  place, 
however,  the  small  figures  above  the  larger  ones. 
In  life-sized  figures  Van  Eyck  seems  to  me  singu- 
larly cramped.  He  is  embarrassed  in  the  drawing, 
which  becomes  stiff,  and  in  the  coloring,  which  be- 
comes dry  and  too  minute,  and,  in  order  to  give 
expression  to  the  faces,  the  eyes  and  mouth  are 
almost  made  to  grimace.  But  in  the  smaller  figures 
he  shows  his  usiial  simplicity  and  skill.  In  these 
we  find  truth,  brilliancy,  power,  and  solidity. 

Amongst  the  numerous  works  of  the  younger  Van 
Eyck,  after  the  death  of  his  brother,  there  are  none 
more  curious  than  the  two  Heads  of  Christ  which 
are  at  Bruges  and  Berlin.  They  both  represent  the 
traditional  head  brought  from  Byzantium,  and  which 
is  still  seen  on  the  banners  of  the  Greek  communion. 
They  are  surrounded  by  a  golden  glory  in  the  form 
of  a  cross,  and  on  the  green  background  there  may 
be  seen,  in  the  upper  part,  the  A  and  fi,  (alpha  and 
omega)  of  the  Greeks,  and,  in  the  lower  part,  the  I 
and  F  (initium  et  finis)  of  the  Latins.  But  that  of 
Bruges  bears  this  inscription  :  "  Jo  de  Eyck,  inventor, 
anno  1420,  30  January  /"  and  that  of  Berlin  :  "  Johes 
de  Eyck,  me  fecit  et  appleviit,  anno  1438,  31  January.1' 
This  means,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  that  the  Head  of 
Christ  at  Bruges  is  one  of  the  first  trials,  perhaps 


126  WONDERS   OF 

the  first,  of  the  processes  with  which  the  Van  Eycks 
endowed  the  art  of  painting.  This  circumstance, 
by  putting  back  a  few  years  the  invention  of  oil 
painting,  which  is  by  general  consent  placed  about 
1410,  would  also  explain  the  singular  slowness  of 
the  spreading  of  this  invention,  since  no  Italian 
made  use  of  it  before  the  year  1445,  whilst  the  Head 
at  Berlin,  elated  eighteen  years  later,  is  a  work  done 
when  its  author  had  attained  to  the  maturity  of  his 
talent  and  the  full  use  of  his  processes.  The  former, 
indeed,  has  hard  outlines,  and  a  reddish  and  mono- 
tonous coloring,  while  the  latter,  on  the  contrary, 
shows  the  manner  of  Van  Eyck  when  it  had  reached 
the  highest  stage  of  perfection.  For  history,  the 
Head  at  Bruges  is  the  most  valuable ;  for  art,  that 
of  Berlin. 

At  Bruges,  also,  we  shall  find  one  of  the  chefs- 
d'oeuvre  of  the  painter  who  has  rendered  the  name 
of  this  town  so  famous.  This  is  a  glorified  Madonna, 
dated  1436,  and  treated  in  the  style  of  Francia,  Pe- 
rugino,  and  the  masters  of  that  period.  At  the  left 
of  the  Madonna,  who  is  seated  on  a  throne,  is  St. 
Donatian,  in  the  dress  of  an  archbishop  ;  on  the 
right  St.  George,  clothed  in  rich  and  complete  armor. 
A  little  behind  him  is  the  kneeling  donor  of  the  pic- 
ture, the  Canon  George  de  Pala,  from  whom  the 
popular  name  for  the  picture  is  taken.  This  work, 
in  which  the  personages  are  half  the  size  of  life,  is 
wonderful  for  its  extreme  vigor,  and  for  the  minute 
finish  of  all  its  details,  as  well  as  by  its  singular  pre- 
servation. Before  seeing  it,  I  had  admired  in  Van 
Eyck  rather  the  inventor  than  the  painter  •  but  be- 


FLEMISH  SCHOOL.  127 

fore  this  wonderful  work  I  was  obliged  to  confess 
that,  even  if  Van  Eyck  had,  like  his  successors, 
merely  profited  by  the  discoveries  of  another,  he 
would  still,  by  his  works  as  an  artist,  deserve  an 
eminent  place  amongst  the  masters.  Besides,  did 
he  not  in  modern  times  take  the  same  place  as 
Parrhasius  with  the  ancient  Greeks  ?  "  It  is  only 
just  to  recognize,"  says  M.  Paul  Mantz,  "  that  the 
brothers  Van  Eyck  took  the  foremost  part  in  the 
principal  event  of  the  history  of  art  in  the  fifteenth 
century — the  substitution  of  the  picture  to  mural 
painting  and  illumination.  Monumental  art  may 
have  lost  something  by  it,  but  it  is  not  an  unimpor- 
tant even1,  this  mobilization  of  painting,  which 
thenceforth,  like  the  printed  book  a  little  later,  wras 
to  pass  from  hand  to  hand,  to  cross  seas,  to  pene- 
trate into  dwellings  until  then  inaccessible,  and  to 
carry  everywhere  instruction,  consolation,  and  light. 
The  Museum  of  Antwerp  possesses  a  repetition 
of  this  Canon  de  Pala,  as  well  as  three  portraits  by 
the  hand  of  Van  Eyck — a  magistrate,  a  monk  at 
prayer,  and  another,  a  dignitary  of  the  church  ;  be- 
sides these,  there  is  also  a  small  drawing  in  chiaro- 
scuro, which  is  very  precious,  and  carefully  pre- 
served under  glass.  It  represents  the  building  of  a 
Gothic  church  by  a  number  of  laborers,  who  are  so 
small  that  they  look  almost  like  the  busy  workers  in 
an  ant-hill.  In  the  foreground  is  seated  a  female 
gaint,  the  patron,*  doubtless,  of  the  building  in 


*  This  picture  is  usually  supposed  to  represent  St.  Barbara- - 
the  Gothic  tower  being  her  attribute. — TEANS. 


128  WONDEKS   OF  PAINTING 

course  Ox  construction,  who  appears  to  be  presiding 
over  the  works  as  the  architect  of  the  monument. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  carry  patient  labor,  fine- 
ness and  precision  of  touch,  and  powerful  effects  to 
a  greater  degree.  This  legend  may  be  read  on  the 
old  frame  in  red  marble  :  "  Jokes  de  Eyck,  me  fecit, 
1435."  The  English  have,  also  covered  with  glass, 
a  wonderful  work  of  the  master  of  Bruges,  which 
means  in  reality  that  visitors  are  only  allowed  to 
see  it  very  imperfectly.  Under  a  glass  all  paintings 
become  pastel,  even  those  of  Van  Eyck,  which  are 
BO  firm  and  so  brilliant.  This  is  a  picture  entitled, 
Portraits  of  Jean  Arnolfini  and  Jeanne  de  Chenany,  his 
Wife."  A  lady,  dressed  with  the  heavy  elegance  of 
the  fashion  of  that  day,  is  holding  out  her  open 
hand  to  a  gentleman  dressed  in  black.  In  the 
centre  of  the  picture,  and  as  if  written  on  the  walls 
of  the  room,  is  the  signature,  Joannes  de  Eyck.  The 
National  Gallery  also  possesses  the  admirable  half- 
length  portrait  of  a  middle-aged  man,  with  a  red 
handkerchief  round  his  head,  which  is  believed  to 
be  the  portrait  of  Van  Eyck  himself.  On  seeing 
the  date  of  1433,  it  may  well  be  said  that  in  the  last 
four  centuries  no  one  can  boast  of  having  repre- 
sented human  nature  with  more  truth,  strength,  and 
nature. 

Munich,  in  its  rich  Pinacothek,  has  no  less  than 
six  pictures  by  the  great  Van  Eyck.  Of  this  num- 
ber, three  are  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  a  sub- 
ject he  seems  to  have  been  particularly  fond  of, 
since  it  was  an  Adoration  of  the  Magi  that  he  sent 
to  the  King  of  Naples,  Alphonso,  the  sight  of  which 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  129 

picture  made  Antonello  da  Messina  wish  to  discover 
the  secret  of  oil  painting.  The  largest  of  the  three 
is  an  important  work,  in  which  there  are  eleven  per- 
sonages besides  the  traditional  ox  and  ass.  The 
second,  although  of  smaller  proportions,  is  more 
valuable,  from  the  perfection  of  the  work,  and  from 
its  historical  interest.  One  of  the  Eastern  kings, 
who  is  on  his  knees,  kissing  the  hand  of  the  Child- 
God,  is  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  Philip  the  Good, 
and  the  negro  king,  with  his  swarthy  complexion, 
presents  a  faithful  portrait  of  Charles  the  Bold,  both 
wearing  the  rich  costumes  of  the  Burgundian  Court. 
We  must  not  omit  also  to  mention  the  St.  Luke 
painting  the  Virgin.  Van  Eyck  has  placed  the  scene 
in  an  open  gallery,  where  the  view  extends  over  one 
of  those  calm,  smiling  landscapes  with  which  Ra- 
phael at  a  later  time  surrounded  his  divine  Madon- 
nas ;  and  under  the  features  of  the  holy  Evangelist, 
whom  tradition  calls  the  first  Christian  painter,  he 
has,  from  a  sentiment  of  almost  filial  respect,  repre- 
sented his  brother  Hubert,  clothed  in  ample  red 
robes.  We  must  regret,  however,  that  he  has  not 
given  to  the  Madonna  the  features  of  his  noble  sis- 
ter Margaret,  who  remained  unmarried,  not  in  order 
to  retire  to  a  convent,  but  to  devote  herself  to  art, 
and  to  assist  her  brothers  in  their  labors.  Margaret 
was,  besides,  an  eminent  painter,  as  is  proved  by 
the  charming  Flight  into  Egypt,  that  is  to  say,  a 
family  resting  from  a  journey  in  a  fresh  and  smiling 
Flemish  landscape,  which  is  in  the  Antwerp  Mu- 
seum. 

At  Paris  it  is  useless  too   seek  Van  Eyck  any 


130  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

more  than  Holbein,  Cranach  and  Diirer.  It  is  true 
that  a  Vierge  au  Donateur,  thus  named  because  Jesus, 
cairied  by  his  mother,  who  is  being  crowned  by  an 
angel,  is  blessing  an  old  man  on  his  knees  before 
him,  who  had  doubtless  ordered  his  portrait  to  be 
taken  in  this  posture  of  ex  voto.  But  being  rather 
pale  in  its  general  tint,  without  much  relief  or  depth, 
this  picture  does  not  show  anything  of  the  brilliant 
color  which  is  called  the  purple  of  Van  Eyck,  just  as 
we  speak  of  the  gold  of  Titian,  or  the  silver  of  Ve- 
ronese. In  any  case  it  is  not  one  of  those  which 
deserve  his  short  and  modest  motto,  ALS  IXH 
XAN  (as  well  as  lean),  for  he  could  do  better.  I  con- 
sider it  a  real  misfortune  that  there  is  no  great  work 
in  the  Louvre  by  Van  Eyck ;  and,  indeed,  there  is 
no  place  where  a  sight  of  this  great  master  would 
be  of  more  use.  It  is  not  merely  the  secret  of  the 
high  artistic  qualities  that  may  be  learned  from  his 
pictures,  but  a  lesson  also  of  another  kind.  At  the 
present  time  when  trade  seeks  to  usurp  the  place  of 
art,  when  painters  endeavor  to  make  the  greatest 
possible  gain  out  of  their  pictures,  when  cheap  oils  are 
used,  and  every  means  seem  allowed  to  work  quickly 
and  produce  much,  although  it  is  known  that  the 
result  of  this  system  is,  that  in  ten  years'  time  a  pic- 
ture peels  off,  cracks,  and  crumbles  into  dust,  and 
in  twenty  years  all  that  is  left  of  it  is  the  canvas 
and  the  frame  ;  perhaps,  on  seeing  pictures  so  bright 
so  fresh,  I  might  almost  say  so  immortal,  which  are 
more  than  four  hundred  years  old,  the  French  ar- 
tists would  understand  that  there  is  one  merit  they 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  131 

should  add  to  those  they  already  possess — that  of 
simple  honesty. 

To  return  to  Bruges.  As  soon  as  a  traveller  has 
passed  through  some  of  the  streets  and  squares,  and 
found  to  his  delighted  astonishment  a  complete 
town  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  first  visit  of  a  lover  of 
art  will  be  to  the  old  Hospital  of  St.  John.  He  need 
not  expect,  however,  to  find  in  this  collection  of 
formless  brick  buildings  any  architectural  beauties. 
The  building  is  only  a  deceitful  exterior.  But  when 
the  visitor  has  bent  his  head  under  a  low  door,  trav- 
ersed tortuous  courts  paved  with  pointed  stones,  and 
knocked  at  the  door  of  an  old  chapel,  he  will  find, 
under  the  inoffensive  c^re  of  a  phlegmatic  pension- 
er, a  treasure  as  worthy  of  renown  and  envy  as  that 
of  the  ancient  Hesperides  protected  by  the  dragon, 
or  that  of  wealthy  Venice  defended  by  a  Sclavonic 
guard.  These  are  the  works  of  HANS  HEMLING,  or 
rather,  MEMLING,  for  it  is  probable  that  in  his  signa- 
ture the  Gothic  letter  M  has  been  mistaken  for  an 
H.  The  visitor  will  be  told  that  in  1477  a  wounded 
soldier  (probably  from  the  battle  of  Nancy,  where 
Charles  the  Bold  lost  his  life)  was  brought  into  the 
Hospital  of  St.  John.  He  was  a  middle-aged  man, 
thrown  into  a  warlike  career  after  an  agitated  youth  ; 
before  becoming  a  soldier,  however,  he  had  been  a 
painter ;  the  love  of  art  returned  to  him  during  the 
leisure  hours  of  a  long  convalescence,  and  being 
grateful  for  the  care  bestowed  on  him,  and  satisfied 
with  the  peaceful  quiet  of  the  house,  where  he  was 
also  retained  by  his  love  for  a  young  sister,  he  passed 
several  years,  paying  for  his  board  by  his  work. 


132  WONDEKS   OF   PAINTING. 

This  is  how  the  fact  of  his  finest  works  belonging  to 
the  Hospital  of  St.  John  is  accounted  for.  There 
they  were  painted,  and  there  they  have  always  re- 
mained in  spite  of  wars,  conquests,  and  pillage, 
which  explains  their  wonderful  state  of  preservation 
after  nearly  four  centuries  ;  and  they  will  doubtless 
remain  there  yet  for  ages,  if  the  poor  hospital  con- 
tinue still  to  defend  its  treasure  proudly  from  wealthy 
amateurs  and  royal  museums,  whose  brilliant  offers 
would,  however,  have  enabled  them  to  convert  their 
brick  walls  into  a  marble  palace. 

The  legend  of  Memling  has  now  disappeared  with 
so  many  other  traditions.  Authentic  documents 
have  proved  that  he  was  simply  a  citizen  of  Bruges, 
where  he  died  in  1495.  So  we  shall  leave  the  ro- 
mance and  come  to  his  works.  The  most  celebrated 
in  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  is  the  Reliquary  of  St. 
Ursula,  a  piece  of  gold  carving  ornamented  with  en- 
gravings and  paintings,  and  intended  to  contain 
relics.  The  reader  must  imagine  a  small  oblong 
Gothic  chapel,  only  two  feet  in  height  from  its  base 
to  the  top  of  its  pointed  roof ;  the  two  facades,  if  we 
may  venture  to  use  architectural  words,  the  side 
walls,  and  the  roofing,  form,  by  their  golden  borders, 
frames  for  Memling's  paintings,  which  are  the  fres- 
coes for  this  miniature  temple.  On  one  of  the  gable 
ends  is  painted  the  Madonna,  scarcely  a  foot  in 
height;  on  the  other,  St.  Ursula,  holding  in  her 
hand  the  arrow,  which  was  to  be  the  instrument  of 
her  death,  and  covering  under  her  ample  robes  a 
number  of  young  girls,  which  makes  her  resemble 
somewhat  the  pictures  of  the  "  Old  Woman  who 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  133 

lived  in  a  Shoe,"  so  famous  in  nursery  rhymes.  Ten 
young  girls  may  be  counted  under  her  mantle,  and 
as  the  saint  herself  makes  the  eleventh,  the  paintei 
has  doubtless  intended  them  to  represent  sym- 
bolically the  eleven  thousand  virgins.*  The  two 
sloping  parts  of  the  roof  each  contain  three  medal- 
lions, on  the  two  centre  ones  St.  Ursula  is  painted, 
in  one  of  them  among  her  companions,  whom  she 
seems  to  be  leading  on  to  the  glory  of  martyrdom  ; 
in  the  other,  kneeling  between  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  who  are  crowning  her,  whilst  the  Holy  Spirit 
hovers  over  her  head.  The  medallions  on  each  side 
contain  angels,  who  form  a  celestial  concert.  On 
the  two  sides  of  the  reliquary,  which  .are  divided 
into  six  compartments  in  the  form  of  Gothic  arcades, 
the  whole  legend  of  the  Virgins  of  Cologne  is  repre- 
sented. On  one  side,  their  departure  from  that  city, 
their  arrival  at  Basle  in  large  round  boats,  then 
their  entrance  into  Rome,  and  reception  by  the 
Pope  at  the  gates  of  a  temple ;  on  the  other,  their 
departure  from  Eome,  taking  the  Pope  with  them, 
their  return  to  Cologne,  and,  lastly,  their  martyr- 
dom by  arrows,  lances,  and  swords,  at  the  hands  of 
the  Hun  soldiers.  In  the  six  painted  chapters  of 
this  legend  there  are  certainly  two  hundred  figures 
introduced,  of  which  the  largest,  in  the  foreground, 

*  It  is  as  well  to  remark  that  the  legend  of  the  eleven  thousand 
virgins  rests  on  an  error  of  a  chronicler  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
tomb  of  St.  Ursula  and  her  companions  at  Cologne  bore  this 
inscription:  "Sancta  Ursula,  xi  M.  V."  Instead  of  reading 
"  Sancta  Ursula,  xi  Martyres  Virgines,"  Sigebert  read  and  report- 
ed "xi  millia  virginum." 


134  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

are  not  more  than  four  inches  in  length ;  and  I  do 
not  count  the  microscopical  personages  in  the  back- 
ground. It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  painter  has 
transported  the  history  of  St.  Ursula  from  the  fourth 
century  to  the  fifteenth  ;  the  buildings,  landscapes, 
costumes,  and  armor  all  belong  to  his  own  time. 
We  may  easily  recognize  a  number  of  portraits. 
Ursula  and  her  band  are  beautiful  Flemish  girls, 
fair,  graceful,  and  elegantly  dressed ;  and  MenJling 
certainly  could  not  have  had  much  difficulty  in  find- 
ing so  many  charming  models  in  a  town  at  that 
time  richly  and  thickly  populated,  and  which  counted 
the  beauty  of  its  women  amongst  its  chief  titles  to 
glory :  formosis  Bruga  puellis. 

In  reading  this  short  description,  one  might  well 
believe  that  the  painting  of  Memling  on  this  re- 
liquary of  St.  Ursula  is  nothing  but  a  chef-d'oeuvre 
of  patience  and  minute  perfection  in  the  details ; 
but  this  is  far  from  being  the  case.  As  a  whole,  it 
is  a  great  and  noble  work,  full  of  grandeur,  vigor, 
and  religious  sentiment.  To  form  an  idea  of  this 
wonderful  work,  the  reader  should  imagine  pictures 
of  sacred  history  conceived  in  the  highest  style  of 
Fra  Angelico,  and  painted  in  the  finest  execution  of 
Gerard  Dow.  But  Memling  has  not  merely  left 
miniature  paintings,  and  this  reliquary  is  not  the 
only  treasure  of  the  Hospital  of  St  John.  The  date 
of  the  reliquary  is  1480.  The  preceding  year,  Mem- 
ling  completed  a  work  which  is  no  less  celebrated, 
and  is  in  the  largest  proportions  then  used,  half-life 
size.  This  is  a  triptych  closed  by  shutters.  On  the 
central  panel  is  represented  theMystical  Marriage  of 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  13S 

St.  Catherine.  As  in  the  glorified  Virgins  of  Francia 
or  Perugino,  the  Madonna  is  seated  under  a  magni- 
ficent dais,  with  her  feet  resting  on  a  rich  Flemish 
carpet,  which  produces  a  wonderful  effect  through 
its  coloring  and  perspective.  Two  angels  are  at  her 
side  to  wait  on  her ;  one  holds  a  book,  of  which  she 
is  turning  over  the  leaves,  whilst  the  other  is  play- 
ing on  a  small  organ.  The  Virgin  of  Sienna,  richly 
dressed,  is  receiving  on  her  knees  the  nuptial  ring 
from  the  Bambino.  The  history  of  the  two  St. 
Johns  form  the  subject  of  the  paintings  on  the 
wings  ;  that  on  the  left  is  the  Beheading  of  John  the 
Baptist  before  Herodias  ;  and  that  on  the  right  is 
St.  John  the  Evangelist  at  Patmos,  beholding  the 
visions  of  the  Apocalypse.  Lastly,  on  the  outside 
of  the  wings,  there  are  excellent  portraits  of  two 
brothers  of  the  hospital,  with  the  symbolical  por- 
traits of  their  patron  saints,  James  and  Andrew, 
and  of  two  sisters  of  the  order,  with  their  patron 
saints,  Agnes  and  Clara. 

This  large  composition  is  unanimously  pronounced 
to  be  the  masterpiece  of  its  author.  Here,  indeed, 
may  be  found  all  his  greatest  qualities,  from  a  calm 
majesty  in  the  arrangement  to  a  wonderful  delicacy 
of  touch.  However,  I  must  give  it  one  rival,  if  not 
in  importance,  at  all  events  in  perfection.  In  the 
same  year,  1479,  Memling  painted  the  different  com- 
partments of  a  triptych,  much  smaller  than  the  last, 
as  the  figures  are  only  from  eight  to  nine  inches  in 
height ;  on  the  left  is  the  Nativity  ;  on  the  right  the 
Presentation  in  the  Temple  ;  in  the  centre,  the  Adora- 
tion of  the  Magi ;  below  is  the  following  inscriptioD 


136  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

written  in  Flemish  :  "  This  work  was  done  for  bro- 
ther Jan  Floreins,  alias  Van  der  Kust,  brother  of 
St.  John's  Hospital,  at  Bruges.  Anno  1479.  Opus 
Johannis  Meinling."  In  the  left  part  of  the  central 
panel,  at  a  window,  is  seen  the  kneeling  figure  of 
Jan  Floreins,  dressed  in  black.  It  is  a  charming 
head  of  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life  ;  the  figures  36, 
written  above  him  on  the  wall,  indicating  his  age. 
Opposite,  the  face  of  a  peasant,  looking  in  at  a  win- 
dow, is  supposed  to  be  a  portrait  of  Memling ;  he 
has  a  short  beard,  thick  hair,  and  his  face,  though 
rather  weary-looking,  is  full  of  gentleness  and  intel- 
lect. It  is  before  this  Adoration  <f  the  Magi  that  I 
have  most  frequently  admired  the  astonishing  per- 
fection of  the  painter  of  St.  John's  Hospital.  I  am 
doubtless  not  alone  in  this  opinion.  A  friend  of 
mine  told  me  that  he  had  experienced  before  this, 
picture  one  of  those  terrible  temptations  to  theft 
which  is  sometimes  occasioned  by  the  sight  of  beau- 
tiful things. 

This  is  not  all  that  the  grateful  patient  left  to  the 
Hospital  of  St.  John.  "We  may  also  find  in  it  a 
Descent  from  the  Cross,  where  the  figures  are  quite 
small,  a  Sybil  Zambeth,  that  is  to  say,  the  portrait  oi 
a  Flemish  lady  in  that  costume,  and  also  the  por- 
trait of  a  young  man  worshiping  a  Madonna.  Mem- 
ling  is  represented  in  the  small  museum  of  Bruges 
by  a  Baptism  of  Christ ;  in  the  museum  of  Antwerp 
by  an  Annunciation,  a  Nativity,  a  Glorified  Virgin, 
etc.;  in  London,  by  several  pictures  in  private  gal- 
leries ;  in  the  Louvre,  by  two  figures  in  a  diptych  : 
John  the  Baptist  and  Mary  Magdalene.  If  we  pass 


FLEMISH  SCHOOL.  137 

into  Germany,  we  shall  find  at  Berlin  two  pictures 
ascribed  to  Memling  :  the  Jewish  Passover  and  the 
PropJiet  Elijah,  fed  by  an  angel  in  the  desert ;  and 
at  Munich  there  are  nine  pictures  attributed  to  him  : 
the  Manna  in  the  Desert,  Abraham  before  Melehisedech; 
the  Seven  Joys  and  Seven  Griefs  of  Mary,  etc.  The 
introduction  to  the  catalogue  praises  these  paintings 
in  the  most  enthusiastic  manner,  calling  them  the 
"  incomparable  creations  of  the  genius  of  Memling." 
I  accept  the  praises,  but  not  with  the  latter  appel- 
lation. The  works  may  be  worthy  of  Memling,  but 
that  they  are  by  Memling  I  cannot  admit.  I  have 
always  maintained  that,  under  the  name  of  Memling, 
several  contemporary  painters  have  been  confounded, 
and  that  of  Munich  is  not  the  painter  of  Bruges.* 
I  will  give  the  reasons  for  this  opinion  in  a  few 
words. 

The  Munich  catalogue  thus  describes  this  master  : 
"  Hemling  (Jan) — pupil  of  Jan  Eyck."  This  is  the 
principal  error  from  which  the  second  flows,  namely, 
that  of  attributing  to  him  works  belonging  to  the 
Van  Eyck  school.  The  dates  speak  for  themselves. 
Jan  Van  Eyck  died  in  1441 ;  now  the  Adoration  of 
the  Magi,  the  first  in  date  of  Memling's  works  in  St. 
John's  Hospital,  bears  that  of  1479,  and  the  face  of 
a  peasant,  which  is  considered  to  be  a  likeness  of 
himself,  shows  a  man  of  about  thirty  years  of  age. 
Let  us  suppose  him,  however,  to  be  forty  ;  he  was 
scarcely  born  when  the  youngest  of  the  brothers 
Van  Eyck  died.  Let  us  now  endeavor  to  prove  that 

*  See  Mustes  cf  Attemagne,  p.  39. 


138  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

Memling  is  no  more  the  author  of  the  pictures  attri- 
buted to  him  at  Munich  than  he  was  a  pupil  of  his 
glorious  predecessor.  All  the  works  that  he  has  left 
in  Flanders  are  painted  in  distemper.  It  is  even  a 
characteristic  of  Memling  to  have  remained  faithful 
to  the  old  Byzantine  processes  fifty  years  after  the 
Van  Eycks,  and  to  have  been  the  only  one  to  paint 
in  distemper  in  the  very  city  where  the  invention  of 
oil  painting  was  made.  We  must  not  be  too  much 
surprised,  since  we  know  that  nearly  half  a  century 
after  the  adoption  of  the  processes  of  Van  Eyck  in 
Italy  several  artists  still  painted  a  tempera  ;  and  in 
the  Louvre  there  is  a  Vierge  a  la  Fictoire,  by  Man- 
tegna,  and  a  Combat  de  I' Amour  et  de  la  Chastete,  by 
Perugino,  which,  although  painted  in  distemper,  yet 
bear  the  dates  1492  and  1*505.  Now  the  Munich 
pictures  are  painted  in  oil,  as  would  naturally  be 
the  case  with  the  works  of  an  artist  who  was  the 
pupil  of  Van  Eyck.  It  is  impossible,  then,  that 
Memling  could  have  painted  them.  Besides  this, 
there  are  many  proofs  that  several  painters  have 
been  confounded  under  the  name  of  Memling.  For 
instance,  the  celebrated  Martyrdom  of  St.  Erasmus, 
which  is  the  pride  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter  of  Lou- 
vain,  has  been  recently  proved,  by  some  old  docu- 
ment, to  have  been  the  work  of  a  certain  Dierick 
Stuerbout,  who  came  from  Haarlem  to  settle  at  Lou- 
vain  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  is 
also  to  Memling  that  is  attributed  the  valuable 
polyptych,  coming  from  the  abbey  of  Anchin,  and 
bequeathed  to  the  Museum  of  Douai  by  Dr.  Escallier. 
And  now  it  is  also  discovered  by  authentic  docu- 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  139 

inents  that  this  picture  must  be  restored  to  a  cer- 
tain Bellegambe,  of  Douai,  who  must  have  been 
celebrated  in  his  time,  since  Vasari  quotes  him 
amongst  the  best  Flemish  artists,  but  of  whom  no 
authentic  work  was  known. 

If  it  be  asked,  who  was  then  the  author  of  these 
pictures  at  Munich,  Berlin,  and  elsewhere,  which  do 
such  credit  to  the  Flemish  school  at  the  latter  half 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  I  must  confess  that  I  am 
quite  unable  to  solve  this  delicate  question.  All  that 
I  can  do  is  to  mention  the  greatest  of  Van  Eyck's 
pupils,  Pieter  Christophsen,  Hugo  Van  der  Goes, 
Israel  Van  Mekenen,  Kogier  Van  der  Weyden,  who 
is  called  Roger  of  Bruges.  The  latter,  especially, 
is  a  worthy  follower  of  his  master,  as  Luini  was  of 
Leonardo  da  Vinci  and  Bonifazio  of  Titian.  If  we 
do  not  find  in  any  of  them  such  nobleness  of  style 
united  to  such  delicacy  of  touch,  then  we  shall  have 
to  believe  that  there  were  two  painters  of  the  same 
name,  one  persevering  in  the  use  of  the  Byzantine 
processes,  the  other  adopting  those  of  the  Van 
Eycks — a  Memling  of  Bruges  and  a  Memling  of 
Munich. 

After  them,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  Antwerp  becomes  the  first  of  the  Flemish 
towns  in  the  history  of  art ;  and  the  series  of  illus- 
trious painters  which  raised  the  school  of  Antwerp 
to  such  a  degree  of  superiority  that  all  the  other 
Flemish  schools  were  merged  into  it,  was  founded 
by  a  simple  blacksmith,  Quintin  MESSYS  or  MATSYS 
(about  1466-1531).  He  is  usually  called  the  smith 
of  Antwerp,  because,  from  love  as  it  is  said,  he  be- 


140  WONDEBS  OF  PAINTING. 

came  a  painter  after  having  been  a  blacksmith,  just 
as  at  Naples  the  same  power  converted  the  Zingaro 
from  a  wandering  tinker  to  a  painter.  Some  iron 
summer-houses,  made  to  represent  vine  branches, 
which  have  been  preserved  at  Antwerp  and  Louvain, 
are  some  of  his  earlier  works,  and  also  some  iron 
carving  on  the  tomb  of  Edward  IV.  in  St.  George's 
Chapel  at  Windsor  is  attributed  to  him.  One  line 
of  the  Latin  inscription  engraved  on  his  own  tomb 
in  the  cathedral  of  Antwerp,  sums  up  in  the  follow- 
ing manner  the  romantic  history  of  his  late  voca- 
tion : — 

"  Commbialis  amor  de  Mulcibre  fecit  Appellem." 

It  was  natural  that  the  native  town  of  the  Antwerp 
smith  should  have  preserved  his  finest  works. 
There  is,  indeed,  nothing  more  complete  or  greater 
amongst  his  whole  works  than  the  famous  triptych, 
which  represents  in  the  centre  The  Entombment ;  on 
the  right  wing  the  Head  of  John  the  Baptist  presented 
to  Herodias  ;  on  the  left  wing  St.  John  the  Evangelist 
in  the  boiling  Oil.  These  three  vast  compositions, 
united  only  by  the  ordinary  shape  of  the  pictures  of 
that  time,  and  in  which  the  figures  are  of  life-size, 
were  ordered  of  the  painter  in  1508  by  the  guild  of 
joiners  in  Antwerp,  who  paid  for  them  300  florins. 
In  1577,  at  the  suggestion  of  Martin  de  Vos,  and  in 
order  to  keep  them  from  Queen  Elizabeth  of  Eng- 
land, who  offered  more  than  5000  rose  nobles  (more 
than  40,000  florins)  for  them,  they  were  bought  by 
the  town  magistrate  for  the  sum  of  1500  florins. 
This  triptych  is  certainly  the  chef-cTwuvr*  of  the 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  141 

master,  and,  I  think  I  may  add,  one  of  the  chefs- 
d'oeuvre  of  painting.  In  it  may  be  seen,  in  all  its 
brilliancy,  patient  labor  united  to  great  intelligence. 
Every  hair,  every  thread  in  the  clothing,  every 
blade  of  grass  is  rendered  with  scrupulous  fidelity, 
and  yet,  notwithstanding  this  minute  finish  in  the 
details,  the  whole  is  of  the  most  powerful  effect. 
This  picture  may  be  examined  either  near  or  at  a 
distance.  Nature  herself  may  be  seen  in  every  point 
of  view.  But  the  work  of  the  pencil  is  no  less 
admirable ;  the  thought  is  no  less  high  and  profound. 
To  the  vigorous  coloring  of  Van  Eyck,  Quintin 
Matsys  united  in  this  picture  the  noble  simplicity 
of  Memling,  and  the  laborious  finish  of  Denner  to 
the  grand  effects  of  Kubens.  All  the  great  qualities 
required  in  painting — movement  in  the  scene,  power 
of  expression,  variety  in  the  attitudes  and  counte- 
nances— are  to  be  found  in  this  work,  where  the 
groups  of  saints  and  executioners  show  both  the 
sublime  and  the  grotesque,  and  heighten  the  effect 
of  the  contrast. 

At  the  Louvre  there  is  a  Descent  from  the  Cross, 
attributed  for  a  long  time  to  Lucas  of  Leyden,  and 
now  restored,  rightly  I  believe,  to  Quintin  Matsys. 
If  he  followed  the  order  of  events  in  these  two  vast 
triptychs,  this  Descent  from  the  Cross  must  have  pre- 
ceded the  Entombment.  Thus  the  picture  in  the 
Louvre,  where,  indeed,  more  awkwardness  and  in- 
elegance are  to  be  seen  with  less  style  and  expres- 
sion, would  have  been  to  the  artist  a  kind  of  prepar- 
ation for  that  of  Antwerp,  the  highest  point  to  which 
the  plenitude  and  maturity  of  his  genius  could  at- 


142  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

tain.  Quintin  Matsjs  may  be  seen  to  advantage, 
too,  in  the  National  Gallery  of  London  in  a  Salvator 
Mundi  and  the  Virgin  Mary,  one  in  a  red  mantle  and 
the  other  in  blue.  These  heads  are  painted  with 
such  exquisite  finish,  and  that  of  Mary  especially  is 
of  such  high  moral  beauty,  that  we  should  have  to 
go  to  the  works  of  Eaphael  to  find  a  suitable  com- 
parison. 

Quintin  Matsys  is  precisely  the  contemporary  of 
Albert  Dtirer,  and  as  after  the  death  of  the  great 
painter  of  Nuremberg  the  Germans  went  to  Italy  for 
masters,  so  did  the  Flemings  after  the  death  of  the 
smith  of  Antwerp  go  to  Florence  and  Venice  for 
lessons  and  models.  There  was,  however,  a  great 
difference  in  the  result :  the  Germans  remained  in 
Italy  and  became  Italian ;  the  Flemings  returned  to 
their  own  land,  and,  by  endeavoring  to  unite  the 
idealistic  school  of  Italy  to  the  realistic  school  of 
Flanders,  prepared  the  way  for  the  great  Flemish 
school  which  produced  Rubens  and  his  disciples. 
Among  the  first  rank  of  these  painters  is  JAN  Gos- 
SAERT  (about  1470-1532),  commonly  called  JAN  DE 
MABUSE  or  MAUBEUGE,  from  the  name  of  his  birth- 
place (in  Latin,  Malbodium).  Taken  to  Italy  when 
thirty-three  years  of  age,  by  the  bishop,  Philip  of 
Burgundy,  he  passed  a  dozen  years  at  Florence  and 
Rome,  in  the  time  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci  and  Ea- 
phael. There,  correcting  the  stiffness  of  the  school 
of  Ley  den,  where  he  had  first  studied,  by  the  Italian 
ease  and  taste,  he  commenced  the  sort  of  compro- 
mise between  the  styles  of  the  South  and  North 
which  characterizes  this  second  epoch  of  Flemish 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  143 

art ;  and  on  his  return  to  his  country  he  devoted  all 
the  rest  of  his  works  to  making  this  new  interme- 
diate style  well  known  ;  he  had  then,  notwithstand- 
ing his  very  lax  morals,  a  grave  and  very  important 
part  in  the  traditional  history  of  art. 

Jan  de  Mabuse  has  left  numerous  works ;  they 
may  be  found  in  Antwerp,  Brussels,  Munich,  Berlin, 
Hampton  Court,  St.  Petersburg,  and  a  few  imper- 
fect specimens  at  Paris.  Let  us  take  those  of  Berlin 
to  mark  the  changes  in  his  style.  The  large  Calvary, 
in  which  the  cross  of  the  Saviour  is  not  erected  on 
the  barren  Golgotha  but  in  the  midst  of  a  green  and 
smiling  landscape,  terminated  in  the  distance  by 
the  view  of  a  Flemish  city,  is  a  work  of  his  youth, 
although  it  is  admirable  from  its  power  of  expression, 
its  coloring,  perspective,  and  good  preservation.  The 
Drunkenness  of  Noah  is  the  copy  of  a  fresco  in  the 
ceiling  of  the  Sistine,  and  the  figures  in  a  Madonna 
in  the  midst  of  an  ornamental  landscape  are  imi- 
tated from  Leonardo  da  Vinci.  But  after  these 
thoroughly  Italian  works,  the  compromise  between 
the  two  arts  is  seen  clearly  in  two  diptychs,  one  of 
which  contains  Adam  and  Eve,  and  the  other  Nep- 
tune and  Amphitrite.  These  figures  are  tall,  strong 
and  full,  both  in  form  and  painting,  already  very 
different  from  the  primitive  meagreness  and  dryness, 
and  are  far  advanced  in  the  Italian  style.  The  mytho- 
logical group  appears  to  me  the  finer,  especially  Nep- 
tune, who  is  crowned,  and  almost  dressed  in  shells. 
The  Italian  qualities  in  this  picture  are  so  striking  that 
it  might  very  innocently  be  doubted  whether  a 
Fleming  was  the  author,  if  he  had  not  himself  af- 


144  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

fixed  his  signature  :  "  Joannes  Malbodius  pingebat, 
1516."  It  was  after  Iris  return  from  Italy,  when  he 
was  forty-five  years  old. 

Following  Gossaert,  and  in  the  same  intermediate 
route,  we  find  successively  BERNARD  VAN  ORLEY 
(about  1480-about  1550),  who  placed  himself,  like 
the  Germans  Schoreel  and  Pencz,  amongst  the  dis- 
ciples of  the  chief  of  the  Eoman  schools  : — MICHAEL 
VAN  COXCYEN,  or  Coxis  (1497-1952),  who  was  called 
the  "  Eaphael  of  Flanders  "  because  he  went  further 
than  Van  Orley  in  the  imitation  of  the  Italians ;  he 
might  also  have  been  named  the  Titian  of  the  Low 
Countries,  since,  like  the  illustrious  centenarian  of 
Venice,  he  died  at  ninety-three  of  the  same  death 
as  Murillo,  falling  from  a  scaffold,  where  he  was 
still  working  in  spite  of  his  great  age ;  LAMBERT 
SUSTERMANN  (1506-1560),  who  is  called  the  "  Lom- 
bard," and  whom  Vasari  calls  "  Lambert  Suavius  " ; 
FRANZ  DE  VRIENDT,  commonly  called  FRANZ  FLORIS, 
who  shared  with  Coxis  the  glorious  name  of  the 
"  Flemish  Eaphael,"  but  who  is  rendered  more  ori- 
ginal by  a  certain  force  of  expression  imitated  rom 
Michael  Angelo ;  MARTIN  DE  Vos,  chief  of  that  nu- 
merous family  of  painters,  amongst  whom  was  Cor- 
nelis  and  Simon,  and  who  may  be  recognized  by 
an  almost  Venetian  coloring  as  a  disciple  of  Tin- 
toretto;  lastly,  OTHON  VAN  VEEN,  who  is  usually 
called  OTTO  VJSNIUS  (1456-1629).  This  illustrious 
man,  who,  besides  studying  painting,  science,  and 
literature,  was  also  a  distinguished  mathematician, 
historian,  and  poet,  may  be  studied  at  Paris  in  a 
collection  of  portraits,  dated  1584,  which  is  called 


FLEMISH  SCHOOL.  145 

Otto  Vceniiis  and  his  Family.  It  is  a  fine  picture,  of 
much  interest  and  importance.  But,  like  Perugino 
and  Wohlgemuth,  the  chief  title  of  Otto  Vsenius,  to 
glory  is  through  his  pupil ;  he  was  the  master  of 
Kubens. 

An  heir  of  both  the  earlier  and  later  Flemish 
schools,  PETEE  PAUL  EUBENS  (1577-1640)  is  also  the 
latest  expression  and  highest  triumph  of  Flemish 
art  renewed  and  invigorated  by  its  intercourse  with 
Italy.  He  was  the  son  of  a  physician  who  had 
compromised  himself  in  politics,  and  he  was  very 
early  left  an  orphan.  He  was  born  at  Siegen  in 
Nassau,  passed  his  infancy  at  Cologne,  and  estab- 
lished himself  when  quite  young  at  Antwerp,  which 
he  only  quitted  to  travel  in  Italy,  Spain,  and  Eng- 
land. Eubens  lived  the  same  kind  of  magnificent 
and  honored  life  as  Raphael,  and  enjoyed  it  during 
a  longer  time.  He  married  twice,  his  first  wife 
being  Elizabeth  Brandt,  and  his  second  the  charm- 
ing Helena  Fourment ;  he  was  happy  in  his  family, 
celebrated,  rich,  and  powerful,  a  protector  of  artists, 
and  a  friend  of  nobles,  and  even  kings.  His  love  of 
work  was  so  constant,  and  his  fertility  so  wonderful, 
that  there  are  nearly  fifteen  hundred  of  his  pictures 
which  have  been  engraved,  and  this  enormous  num- 
ber is  scarcely  half  his  works.  In  the  Louvre  there 
are  forty-two  pictures  by  him ;  Antwerp  is  almost 
as  rich  as  Paris;  Madrid  is  equally  so.  In  the 
Hermitage  at  St.  Petersburg  no  less  than  fifty-four 
pictures  or  sketches  are  ascribed  to  him,  and  the 
largest  of  the  rooms  and  the  deepest  of  the  cabinets 
of  the  Pinacothek  at  Munich,  forming  a  separate 


146  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

museum  in  the  midst  of  the  general  one,  are  en- 
tirely filled  by  ninety-five  paintings  by  Rubens,  all 
authentic  and,  what  is  still  more  important,  all  well 
chosen.  And  then  Dresden,  Vienna,  Brussels,  Lon- 
don— it  w^ould  be  impossible  to  enumerate  all. 

Before  endeavoring  to  make  a  choice  among  this 
profusion,  we  must  speak  of  Rubens  in  a  more  gen- 
eral and  absolute  manner.  Rubens  is  the  highest 
standard  of  excellence  to  the  exclusive  lovers  of 
coloring,  as  Raphael  is  to  the  exclusive  lovers  of 
form.  Neither  of  these  painters  made  any  claim  to 
this  singular  honor  now  paid  to  them.  Rubens 
often  sought  purity  of  drawing,  even  in  his  boldest 
flights,  and  frequently  succeeded;  and  Raphael, 
especially  towards  the  close  of  his  short  life,  had 
acquired  very  respectable  coloring.  Their  example 
even  proves  the  futility  of  the  distinctions  which 
amuse  the  present  age  of  artistic  decay,  and  show 
how  vain  is  the  contest  carried  on  under  the  two 
banners.  In  my  opinion,  painting  consists  both  of 
form  and  color,  just  in  the  same  way  as  music  is  com- 
posed, necessarily  and  inseparably,  of  melody  and 
harmony.  But  as  connoisseurs  of  music  have  been 
found  who  denied  the  need  of  melody,  which  is  the 
outline  of  music,  so  there  are  connoisseurs  in  paint- 
ing who  deny  the  necessity  of  the  line,  which  is  the 
melody  of  painting.  They  say,  for  example,  that  in 
painting  the  line  has  no  real  existence  ;  that  it  is 
simply  the  limitation  of  color,  and  nothing  beyond  ; 
that  the  duration  of  a  sound  constitutes  time ;  and 
that  the  extent  of  color  determines  the  outline. 
This  paralogism  rests  on  an  exterior  and  accessory 


THE   DESCENT  FROM  THE   CROSS— BY   RUBENS. 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  149 

fact,  and  not  by  any  means  profound — namely,  that 
painting,  properly  so  called,  is  always  colored.  We 
may  triumphantly  reply  to  this,  that,  independently 
of  color,  the  line  exists  both  in  nature  and  art.  If 
we  look  at  a  chain  of  mountains  in  the  horizon,  a 
saw  (sierra),  as  the  Spaniards  call  it,  standing  out 
with  its  sharp  outlines  against  a  dark  background, 
can  we  then  deny  the  pure  line  ?  Even  the  clouds, 
with  their  misty  and  fugitive  images,  trace  lines  in 
space,  from  the  simple  reason  that  the  line  is  form. 

Having  made  this  digression,  we  must  examine 
some  of  the  principal  works  of  Rubens,  beginning 
with  those  in  his  adopted  country. 

The  celebrated  Descent  from  the  Cross,  which  is 
unanimously  considered  the  finest  of  all  the  numer- 
ous works  of  Kubens,  is  in  the  cathedral  of  Antwerp. 
In  looking  at  this  masterpiece  we  must  beware  of 
expecting  too  much,  for  imagination  is  apt  to  play 
us  such  tricks  that  we  are  seldom  satisfied  with  a 
first  view,  even  of  the  Alps  or  the  ocean.  This  pic- 
ture was  painted  in  order  to  pay  the  Company  of 
Archers  of  Antwerp  for  some  ground  which  E/ubens 
required  in  order  to  enlarge  his  house.  The  Descent 
from  the  Gross  is  the  central  panel  of  a  vast  triptych, 
on  the  wings  of  which  are  the  Visitation  and  the 
Presentation  of  Jesus  in  the  Temple.  This  picture 
cannot  be  seen  very  well ;  it  is  hung  rather  too  high, 
and  the  way  in  which  the  light  falls  on  it  prevents 
us  from  seizing  the  whole  at  a  glance — a  defective 
arrangement  which  necessitates  a  long  contempla- 
tion of  the  work.  It  is  needless  to  describe  the  sub- 
ject. It  is  a  large  scene  of  high  character,  in  which 


150  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

we  find  a  nobler  conception  and  more  finished  exe- 
cution than  usual,  besides  calmness  in  the  midst  oi 
energetic  movement,  and,  also,  in  this  instance,  no 
less  grandeur  than  fire  and  energy.  The  merits  oi 
the  work  are  much  increased  by  its  perfect  unity. 
All  is  in  motion  around  the  body  of  Jesus,  which  is, 
indeed,  wonderfully  delineated,  full  of  morbidezza, 
very  heavy  and  dead  (too  dead,  perhaps,  for  there 
is  nothing  to  announce  the  approaching  resurrection), 
yet  preserving,  nevertheless,  a  dignity  which  may 
well  be  termed  "  divine  majesty."  St.  John,  who 
wears  a  red  garment,  and  is  supporting  the  inani- 
mate remains  of  the  Saviour  ;  the  Virgin,  absorbed 
in  profound  grief ;  and  Mary  Magdalene,  whose 
tears  only  increase  her  beauty — form  an  admirable 
group  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross.  I  speak  merely  of 
the  general  arrangement  and  style.  What  need  is 
there  to  praise  the  coloring  of  Rubens'  masterpiece  ?"* 
Of  the  other  pictures  by  Etibens  at  Antwerp,  a 
Crucifixion,  the  pendent  of  the  above-mentioned 
painting,  a  vast  Assumption  of  the  Viryin,  placed 
over  the  high  altar  in  the  same  cathedral,  and  the 
coloring  of  which  is  magnificent,  besides  the 
eighteen  pictures  in  the  museum,  amongst  which 
may  be  found  a  Last  Communion  of  St.  Francis,  un- 
surpassed, perhaps,  by  any  other  work  of  Bubens, 

*  "An  anti-Christian  conception,"  says  M.  Alfred  Michiels, 
"  inspired  the  Descent  from  the  Gross,  and  never  has  a  less  pious 
work  ornamented  a  church.  A  pantheist  would  not  have  executed 
it  differently.  The  body  of  Jesus  is  not  that  of  the  God  who  is  to 
rise  on  the  third  day  ;  it  is  rather  the  corpse  of  a  man  in  whom 
the  flame  of  life  is  for  ever  extinct. " 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  151 

although  both  that  and  the  Assumption  enter  into 
dangerous  rivalry  with  the  masterpieces  of  Titian 
and  Domenichino.  My  own  particular  favorite  is 
in  the  modest-looking  church  of  St.  Jarnes.  Here 
is  to  be  found  the  tomb  of  Ilubens,  his  portrait,  and 
one  of  his  principal  works.  The  tomb,  designed  by 
the  painter  himself,  fills  a  small  chapel  behind  the 
choir  of  the  church.  His  body  rests  in  the  centre 
of  this  chapel  under  a  stone  which  has  been  cov- 
ered with  a  long  Latin  inscription  enumerating  all 
the  names,  titles,  and  virtues  of  the  deceased.  The 
only  inscription  necessary  would  have  been  Rubens. 
Shakespeare  says,  "  Would  you  praise  Caesar,  say 
Ccdsar — go  no  further."  The  picture  over  the  altar 
contains,  under  pretence  of  a  Holy  Family,  the 
whole  family  of  the  painter,  who  was  as  much  a 
sceptic  and  a  pagan  as  Titian  and  Correggio.  TLe 
warrior  St.  George  is  Ilubens  himself  ;  St.  Jerome 
is  his  father  ;  Time  his  grandfather  ;  an  angel  his 
youngest  son  ;  Martha  and  Mary  Magdalene  his 
first  wife  and  the  one  then  living.  The  Virgin  is 
supposed  to  have  been  a  Fraulein  Lunden,  who 
served  him  as  a  model  several  times,  and  whom  he 
immortalized  under  the  name  of  Chapeau  de  Faille. 
This  pretended  Holy  Family,  which  contains  far 
more  than  the  orthodox  number  of  personages  for 
this  subject,  is  a  magnificent  picture,  in  which  there 
is  everything  to  admire — composition,  color,  effect, 
and  preservation.  Of  all  the  great  works  by  Ilubens 
which  I  have  seen  from  Madrid  to  St.  Petersburg,  I 
know  none  superior  to  this  simple  collection  of  por- 
traits. It  is  said,  however,  that  it  only  took  him 


152  WONDEES   OF   TAINTING. 

seventeen  days  to  paint.     It  was  done  in  1625,  fif- 
teen years  before  his  death. 

We  must  now  leave  Flanders,  not  stopping  even 
at  Brussels,  and  pass  on  to  Munich,  where  we  shall 
find  ninety-five  paintings  by  Eubens,  including 
specimens  of  all  his  styles,  in  subjects  taken  from 
sacred,  profane,  and  mythological  history,  in  alle- 
gory, portrait,  landscape  painting,  etc.  The  largest 
and  most  valuable  of  all  those  in  the  Pinacothek  is 
certainly  the  Last  Judgment,  which  is  the  same  size 
as  the  Descent  from  the  Cross.  Eubens  had  seen  the 
Last  Judgment  in  the  Sistine,  so  he  appears  to  have 
taken  great  care  to  avoid  any  resemblance  to  the 
work  of  his  illustrious  predecessor.  He  has  treated 
the  same  subject,  but  in  a  different  and  almost  oppo- 
site manner.  Michael  Angelo,  always  gloomy  in  his 
disposition,  shows  in  this  work  all  the  wild  melan- 
choly of  his  character.  To  him  the  merciful  Re- 
deemer of  mankind  is  a  thundering  Jupiter  who,  as  a 
.terrible  and  inexorable  judge,  pours  his  wrath  on 
all  the  vices  of  humanity.  Kubens,  on  the  contrary, 
more  thoroughly  a  man,  makes  the  Christ  an  equit- 
able and  merciful  judge.  Although  he  condemns 
the  wicked  he  also  recompenses  the  good,  and  al- 
though he  throws  open  hell  he  also  opens  the  gates 
of  heaven.  Below  the  eternal  throne  and  the  celes- 
tial court  are  two  vast  groups ;  on  the  right,  the 
condemned,  who  are  being  precipitated  by  a  hideous 
group  of  demons  into  the  abyss :  on  the  left,  the 
redeemed,  who  are  carried  to  the  celestial  mansions 
by  glorious  angels.  In  this  group  I  recognized  with 
emotion,  and  almost  with  gratitude,  a  poor  negro, 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  153 

who  seems  as  much  surprised  as  delighted  to  find 
justice  at  last,  and  to  go  to  eternal  happiness  with 
his  white  brothers.  Certainly  such  a  thought  of 
philanthropy  and  humanity  was  very  rare  two 
centuries  and  a  half  ago.  This  contrast  between 
the  two  parts  of  the  picture  gives  greater  clearness 
and  interest  to  the  whole  work  ;  and  in  this  respect 
Kubens  surpassed  Michael  Angelo,  who,  from  neg- 
lecting all  the  symbols  allowed  by  art  and  religion, 
and  from  making  simple  men  of  all  the  inhabitants 
of  heaven  and  hell,  has  not  entirely  avoided  the 
confusion  inseparable  from  such  a  vast  and  compli- 
cated subject.  What  need  is  there  to  carry  the 
comparison  any  farther  ?  Whilst  fully  granting  to 
the  fresco  of  Michael  Angelo  his  inimitable  per- 
fection in  drawing,  in  the  boldness  of  his  attitudes, 
and  knowledge  of  muscular  anatomy,  we  must  yet 
admire  in  Eubens  all  the  magic  of  light  and  shadow 
and  the  splendor  of  coloring.  Who  does  not  know 
what  Eubens  is  when  he  attains  real  greatness  ? 
The  Last  Judgment  occupies  the  centre  of  the  prin- 
cipal room,  and  when,  taking  advantage  of  the 
length  of  the  room,  we  look  at  it  from  a  distance, 
the  eye  is  really  dazzled,  and  we  might  almost  think 
that  the  painter  has  borrowed  rays  of  celestial 
light  and  poured  them  on  his  painting. 

We  ought  properly  to  give  some  notice  of  each 
one  of  the  pictures  in  the  Munich  gallery,  and  we 
have  not  room  even  for  their  names.  We  must, 
then,  merely  make  a  few  remarks  on  them  in  pass- 
ing. The  painting  of  the  Fall  of  the  Damned, 
usually  called  the  Small  Last  Judgment,  is  far  more 


154  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

like  the  frescoes  of  Michael  Angelo  than  the  other. 
Here,  in  the  vortex  of  living  beings,  angels,  men, 
women,  and  devils,  all  mingled  together,  the  work 
of  the  imagination  equals  the  manual  labor.  Ano- 
ther picture,  of  Susannah,  which  is  lighted  up  by  the 
rays  of  the  evening  sun  through  the  trees,  evidently 
painted  off  at  once  without  any  last  touches  and 
corrections,  is  a  perfect  miracle  of  coloring.  Kubens, 
although  he  excelled  in  the  painting  of  children, 
has  never  surpassed  the  Seven  Children  carrying  a 
Festoon  of  Fruit  and  Flowers.  This  little  proces- 
sion forms  a  charming  picture  ;  the  children  are 
bending  under  the  weight  of  their  trophy,  and  one, 
more  mischievous  or  more  gourmand  than  the  rest, 
is  eating  the  grapes  from  a  cluster  hanging  over 
his  head.  The  two  portraits  of  the  painter  himself, 
in  one  with  his  first,  and  in  the  other  with  his  second 
wife  and  also  that  of  this  much  loved  second  wife 
alone,  magnificently  attired,  lank  among  the  first 
of  his  works.  Lastly,  several  landscapes — one  of 
a  herd  of  cows,  another  of  a  storm  and  rainbow 
— show  the  universality  of  the  great  painter,  who 
was  able  to  treat  every  subject  as  a  master. 

We  must  now  go  on  to  Vienna.  In  the  immense 
Lichtenstein  Gallery  we  must  admire  the  long  series 
of  pictures  illustrating  the  History  of  Decius.  But 
we  must  pass  on  rapidly  to  the  Belvedere,  where 
there  are  forty-three  of  Rubens'  pictures — a  suffi- 
cient number,  I  should  imagine,  to  enable  us  to 
judge  of  his  various  qualities,  including  that  of  fer- 
tility. Two  large  rooms  on  the  first  floor  are  filled 
with  his  works,  which  is  not  surprising,  when  one 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  155 

picture  alone  occupies  a  whole  side  of  a  wall.  If, 
indeed,  we  would  make  any  calculation  of  what  Ru- 
bens accomplished,  we  should  have  to  take  into  con- 
sideration, not  merely  the  number  of  the  pictures, 
but  also  the  number  of  square  feet  contained  in 
them.  The  total  would  appear  almost  incredible  for 
a  life  that  did  not  much  exceed  sixty  years. 

We  must  give  a  rapid  glance  at  the  magnificent 
portrait  of  the  beautiful  Helena  Fourment,  who  is 
draped  merely  m  a  magnificent  fur  mantle,  and  also 
at  a  Festival  of  Venus  in  the  Isle  of  Cytherea,  which  is 
wonderful  in  its  color,  motion,  and  life.  Here  we 
find  not  merely  groups  of  loves,  nymphs,  and  fauns 
dancing  a;:d  sporting  about,  but  also  ladies  of  the 
time  and  country  of  the  artist,  bringing  their  gifts 
to  the  most  pagan  of  the  divinities.  We  must  then 
pass  on  to  the  central  hall,  where  three  pictures  en- 
tirely cover  one  of  the  sides.  To  the  right  and  left 
of  an  Assumption,  intended  for  a  high  altar,  there 
are  two  vast  pendents,  devoted  to  the  two  greatest 
of  the  Jesuits.  In  one  Ignatius  Loyola  is  curing  a 
demoniac,  in  the  other  Francis  Xavier  is  preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  Indians.  The  first  event  takes 
in  a  church,  so  that  Rubens  had  only  to  copy  a 
scene  and  personages  before  him,  but  for  the  other 
he  had  no  assistance  but  imagination,  to  which  he 
gave  ample  scope.  Standing  on  a  terrace,  opposite 
a  Grecian  temple,  with  columns  and  frontons,  from 
whence  the  idols  are  being  thrown  down,  the  apostle 
of  the  Indians  is  catechising  an  audience  dressed  in 
such  a  manner  that  fashion  itself  could  not  have 
surpassed  the  artist  in  caprice  and  singularity. 


156  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

Whatever  may  be  the  merit  of  these  large  paint- 
ings, and  also  of  others,  such  as  the  Four  Qaarters 
of  the  Globe,  personified  by  the  Danube,  the  Nile, 
the  Ganges,  and  the  Amazon,  and  the  St.  Ambrosius 
shutting  the  Temple  Gates  to  Theodosius,  I  should  not 
give  to  any  of  these  the  first  place  amongst  the 
works  of  Eubens  in  the  Belvedere.  There  is  ano- 
ther, which  I  believe  to  be  not  only  his  chef-d'oeuvre 
here,  but  also  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  of  his  entire 
works.  This  is  a  vast  triptych,  uniting  to  the  reli- 
gious subject  in  the  centre  the  portraits  of  the 
donors  painted  on  the  wings,  with  their  patron 
saints.  The  subject  of  the  centre  picture  is,  the 
Appearance  of  the  Virgin  to  St.  Ildefonso,  and  repre- 
sents the  Madonna  presenting  sacerdotal  garments 
to  the  new  archbishop  of  Toledo.  The  donors  are 
the  Archduke  Albeit  of  Austria,  governor  of  the 
Low  Countries  for  Spain,  his  wife  Isabella,  and  Clara 
Eugenia,  the  daughter  of  Philip  II.,  who,  when  a 
widow,  became  an  abbess.  Both  are  kneeling,  the 
former,  near  St.  Albert,  in  a  cardinal's  costume,  and 
the  latter,  near  St.  Clara,  in  the  costume  of  an  ab- 
bess, turning  towards  the  vision  of  St.  Ildefonso ; 
and  we  may  well  say  of  the  picture,  as  well  as  of  the 
portraits,  that  Kubens  has  nowhere  shown  a  union 
of  greater  nobleness,  truth,  and  brilliancy.  We 
might  search  in  vain  amongst  his  innumerable  works 
for  anything  superior  to  this  triptych,  and  it  is  to  it 
that  I  should  adjudge  the  highest  praise. 

We  must  now  leave  Germany,  and,  without  stop- 
ping either  at  Berlin  or  at  Dresden,  pass  at  once  to 
Paris.  There  are  forty-two  of  Eubens'  paintings  in 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  157 

the  Louvre.  This  is  the  greatest  number  by  any 
single  master  to  be  found  in  the  whole  catalogue ; 
and  certainly  we  cannot  complain  here  of  a  useless 
wealth  that  merely  serves  to  reveal  the  poverty 
around,  as  when  speaking  of  the  Bolognese  school. 
The  greater  part  of  this  number,  and  certainly  the 
most  important  ones,  form  a  series,  and  may  be 
considered  as  a  single  work.  This  is  called  the 
History  of  Marie  de  Medici.  Our  readers  will  re- 
member that,  after  her  interview  at  Brissac,  in  1620, 
with  Louis  XIII.,  and  their  momentary  reconcilia- 
tion, the  widow  of  Henry  IV.  lived  in  the  palace  of 
the  Luxembourg  at  Paris.  Endowed  with  the  taste 
for  the  fine  arts  hereditary  in  her  family,  this 
daughter  of  the  Medici  wished  the  long  gallery  of 
the  palace,  and  another  gallery  which  she  intended 
to  have  constructed,  to  be  decorated  by  eminent 
artists.  In  one  her  own  history  was  to  be  depicted, 
in  the  other  that  of  the  great  and  good  Henry  IV. 
The  Baron  de  Vicq,  then  ambassador  from  the  Arch- 
duke Albert,  proposed  Eubens  to  the  Queen.  Marie 
accepted  the  artist,  and  the  artist  accepted  the 
work.  He  came  to  Paris  in  1621,  painted  in  chiar- 
oscuro, under  the  eyes  of  the  queen-mother,  sketches 
for  the  pictures  of  the  first  series,  and,  on  his  return 
to  his  studio  at  Antwerp,  with  the  assistance  of  his 
principal  pupils,  he  proceeded  rapidly  with  the  work, 
which  he  returned  to  Paris  to  terminate  in  1623  to 
1625.  Rubens  had  already  commenced  the  sketches 
for  the  History  of  Henry  IV.,  when  the  fresh  and 
definitive  exile  of  the  queen-mother,  pronounced  by 
Richelieu,  put  an  end  to  the  work. 


158  WONDEHS   OF   PAINTING. 

This  History  of  Marie  de  Medici,  then,  was  intended 
merely  as  the  decoration  of  a  palace  ;  it  is  now  in 
the  Louvre,  and  will  be  henceforth  the  ornament  of 
that  museum,  as  it  is  one  of  the  finest  works  of  the 
master.  Certainly,  if  we  consider  its  subject,  this 
long  poem  in  twenty-one  cantos  is  not  a  history,  but 
rather  a  series  of  allegories,  or  even  of  allegorical 
flatteries,  in  which  it  is  difficult  to  recognize  the 
haughty,  obstinate,  and  false  Marie  de  Medici,  who 
as  a  wife  made  herself  hated  by  her  husband,  as  a 
mother  by  her  son,  and  as  regent  by  her  subjects.  . 
Under  the  magic  pencil  of  Rubens,  this  elegant  flat- 
tery deserves  the  definition  given  of  it  by  some  deep 
thinker :  "  It  shows  us  the  shadows  at  sunset." 
Doubtless,  also,  when  looked  on  as  simple  works  of 
art,  these  twenty-one  pictures  are  not  equal  to  the 
Descent  from  the  Cross,  at  Antwerp,  or  the  St.  llde- 
fonso,  at  Vienna.  But  yet,  from  the  unwonted  great- 
ness of  the  whole,  from  the  inexhaustible  invention 
and  variety  of  the  subjects,  as  well  as  from  the  won- 
derful execution  of  some  parts,  such  as  the  Education 
of  Marie,  her  Marriage,  her  Coronation,  the  Birth  of 
Louis  XIII. ,  the  Apotheosis  of  Henri  IV.,  etc.,  this 
long  series,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  inferior  to  none  of 
Rubens'  works. 

To  these  must  be  added  the  portrait  of  that  same 
Marie  de  Medici — another  allegory  and  deceptive 
flattery — for  Rubens  represented  her  as  Bellona  on 
horseback,  like  the  great  Minerva  of  Phidias,  hold- 
ing in  her  hand  the  statue  of  Victory,  whilst  she  is 
being  crowned  with  laurels.  Are  these  laurels  those 
of  her  unworthy  favorite,  the  Marechal  d'Ancre,  who 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  159 

was  slain  by  the  sword  without  having  drawn  his 
own  ?  But  in  such  a  magnificent  work,  a  perfect 
masterpiece  of  the  art  of  representing  human  na- 
ture, whilst  at  the  same  time  ennobling  it,  every- 
thing may  be  forgiven,  even  its  hyperbole  and  want 
of  truth.  Rubens  is  well  represented  in  the  Louvre. 
Besides  his  favorite  allegories  and  several  portraits, 
there  are  two  landscapes,  one  of  which  is  lighted 
by  a  rainbow,  whilst  in  the  other,  near  the  draw- 
bridge of  a  castle,  several  knights  are  breaking  lances, 
as  if  in  a  tournament.  There  is  also  a  large  Ker- 
messe,  or  Fair,  which  is  no  less  gay  and  animated 
than  if  it  were  by  Jan  Steen.  There  are  also  some 
pictures  with  small  figures.  These  are  much  rarer 
among  his  works,  and,  I  may  venture  to  say,  are  the 
most  precious,  first,  because  they  belong  in  general 
to  the  time  of  his  complete  maturity,  when  the  fire 
of  his  youth  had  given  place  to  good  taste  and  a 
greater  desire  for  perfection ;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  because  they  are  entirely  by  his  own  hand. 

This  was  not,  however,  it  must  be  confessed,  the 
opinion  of  Rubens  himself.  In  1621,  when  44  years 
of  age,  and  when  he  was  beginning  the  History  of 
Marie  de  Medici,  he  wrote  from  Antwerp  to  one  of 
his  friends  in  London  :  "  I  confess  that  I  am,  from 
a  natural  instinct,  more  suited  for  very  large  works 
than  for  small  ones.  Every  one  has  his  own  line  ; 
my  talent  is  such  that  no  undertaking,  however  vast 
in  quantity  and  in  the  thought  required  for  it,  has 
surpassed  my  courage."  He  doubtless  changed  his 
opinion  at  a  later  time,  as  is  shown  in  the  Louvre 
by  the  Flight  of  Lot,  led  out  of  Sodom  by  an  angel 


160  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

with  outstretched  wings,  and  followed  by  his  family, 
This  is  an  excellent  and  carefully -painted  picture, 
which  France  may  well  be  proud  of  possessing,  since 
Rubens  himself  seems  to  have  been  proud  of  having 
painted  it,  as  it  is  one  of  the  small  number  which  he 
signed.  His  name  (Pe.  Pa.  Rubens),  tract  d  by  him- 
self at  the  bottom  of  this  li  tie  picture,  is  in  some 
degree  the  seal  of  preference  and  superiority.  And, 
indeed,  to  find  an  equal  to  it  in  the  same  style  we 
should  have  to  go  to  Madrid  to  the  Museo  del  Rey. 
There,  amongst  such  a  number  of  other  works  that, 
as  at  Munich,  a  gallery  might  be  formed  of  the 
works  of  Rubens  alone,  we  shall  find  a  Glorifed 
Virgin  adored  by  a  group  of  fifteen  saints — Peter 
and  Paul  (the  patrons  of  the  painter),  George, 
Sebastian,  Magdalen,  Theresa,  etc.,  the  most  poetical 
of  the  saints.  Although  the  figures  are  only  about 
a  foot  in  height,  this  Madonna  is  a  wonderful  work. 
The  arrangement  of  the  groups,  the  strength  and 
delicacy  of  the  touch,  color,  and  effect  are  almost 
magical.  The  more  fervent  admirers  of  Rubens — 
those  who  have  admired  him  at  Antwerp,  Munich, 
Vienna,  and  Paris — if  they  have  not  seen  this  picture, 
do  not  yet  know  him  entirely. 

We  might  cross  the  whole  of  Europe  at  a  bound, 
and  examine  another  rich  collection  of  pictures  in 
the  Hermitage  of  St.  Petersburg,  where  we  should 
find,  amongst  many  other  works  of  the  great  painter 
of  Antwerp,  The  Feast  in  the  House  of  Simon  the 
Pharisee.  But  it  will  be  better  to  pass  at  once  to 
England.  If  I  had  to  name  the  one  of  Rubens' 
works  which  appeared  to  me  superior  in  its  execu- 


FLEMISH  SCHOOL.  161 

tion  to  any  of  the  others,  I  should  choose  one  of 
those  in  the  gallery  of  the  Marquis  of  Westminster 
— The  History  of  Ixion  and  the  Cloud.  This  is  a 
real  capo  d'opera  in  all  the  extent  of  that  much- 
abused  word.  But  the  picture  which  is  most  inter- 
esting, at  once  from  its  beauty  and  its  history,  is 
the  Diana  and  her  NympJis  on  their  return  from 
the  chase,  surprised  during  sleep  by  satyrs.  This 
picture  was  taken  to  Hampton  Court,  and  presented 
to  Charles  I.  by  Bubens,  during  his  visit  to  the  king 
in  1629,  when  charged  with  a  secret  mission  by 
Charles  IV.  of  Spain.  *  It  was  at  this  time,  when  he 
was  copying  a  Venus  by  Titian,  that  a  nobleman 
finding  him  at  his  easel,  asked  him  in  surprise : 
"  Does  the  ambassador  of  His  Catholic  Majesty 
sometimes  amuse  himself  with  painting  ?"  "  I 
amuse  myself  sometimes  with  being  an  ambassador,0 
replied  the  artist.  A  good  reply  ;  but  which  does 
not  suffice  to  remove  from  him  the  reproach  of  hav- 
ing assisted  to  unite  the  Courts  of  Spain  and  Eng- 
land ;  of  having  served  a  foreign  government  who 
kept  his  country  under  the  yoke  of  a  tyrannical 
oppression.  It  would  be  better  to  quote  another 
saying  of  Kubens,  which  artists  would  do  well  to 
remember  when  they  are  harassed  by  critics ;  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  saying,  "  Do  well,  and  you  will 
have  enviers,  do  better,  and  you  will  confound 
them." 

Amongst  the  numerous  pupils  of  Eubens  there 
are  two  which  deserve  to  be  named  immediately 
after  him,  JACOB  JORDAENS  (1593-1678),  who,  like 
Uubens  himself,  had  studied  under  the  singular 


I 
162  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

Adam  Van  Noort,  and  ANTONY  VAN  DYCK  (1599- 
1641),  who  only  learned  of  Rubens,  and  whose  repu- 
tation rivalled  that  of  his  master. 

It  is  not  in  the  Louvre  that  Jordaens  can  be 
studied  to  advantage.  His  Christ  driving  the  Money 
Changers  out  of  the  Temple  is  only  sacred  in  name 
and  subject ;  it  is  either  intended  to  be  comic  or 
sarcastic,  for  it  is  thought  that  Jordaens  having 
adopted  the  reformed  religion,  wished,  allegorically, 
to  represent  Luther  chastising  the  Romish  church. 
It  is,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  poultry -yard,  in  the  style  of 
Bassano  or  of  Hondekoeter.  This  picture,  however, 
is  painted  with  all  the  fullness,  energy,  and  excessive 
fire  which  are  usual  with  Jordaens,  and  which  he 
carried  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  even  Rubens  in 
the  commencement  of  his  career.  In  his  Four 
Evangelists  we  are  unable  to  see  anything  but  cari- 
catures, the  product  of  a  misdirected  talent,  which 
in  degrading  its  subjects  also  lowers  itself.  Is  it 
possible  that  this  was  really  only  intended  for 
mockery?  The  young  artist  would  indeed  be  de- 
luded who  should  go  to  them  for  models,  or  even 
for  excuses.  They  are  only  useful  to  show  the 
faults  which  are  to  be  shunned ;  they  are  the 
drunken  slaves  of  the  young  Spartans.  The  same 
opinion  may  be  formed  of  the  portrait  of  the  Dutch 
admiral  Michael  Ruyter  ;  for  however  stout  he  may 
have'  been,  this  great  commander,  this  terrible  con- 
queror of  the  fleets  of  Algiers,  Sweden,  England, 
and  France  cannot  be  faithfully  represented  by  the 
bloated  face  of  a  tavern  haunter.  To  find  any  Jor- 
daens worthy  to  be  taken  as  a  model,  we  must  go 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  163 

to  the  museum  at  Brussels.  Here  we  shall  find 
two  compositions  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  by 
this  master.  The  more  important,  since  it  contains 
ten  or  twelve  figures  the  size  of  life,  is  a  Miracle  of 
St.  Martin,  who  is  healing  a  demoniac  before  the 
proconsul.  It  is  painted  with  that  fiery  color  which 
characterizes  Jordaens ;  but  with  almost  as  much 
true  nobleness  as  force.  The  other  subject,  an 
allegory  of  the  occupations  and  gifts  of  the  autumn, 
is  of  much  more  sober  coloring,  though  it  loses 
nothing  of  its  brilliancy.  It  seems  to  me  that  this 
picture  of  the  Autumn  may  be  called  Jordaeus' 
masterpiece  ;  at  least  I  have  never  heard  any  other 
works  of  this  master  mentioned  with  the  praise  that 
this  one  deserves.  The  landscape,  the  fruits,  the 
actors  of  the  scene,  especially  a  satyr  carrying  a 
little  faun  on  his  shoulders,  and  a  naked  nymph, 
are  of  great  vigor  and  wonderful  effect.  It  is  Cara- 
vaggio  or  Ilibera,  with  the  coloring  of  Eubens. 

In  the  Museum  of  Antwerp  the  precious  tables 
are  still  preserved  in  which  the  names  of  the  deans 
of  the  corporation  of  painters  were  successively 
inscribed  from  its  foundation  in  1454  until  its  ex- 
tinction in  1778.  Two  names  only  in  this  long  list 
are  inscribed  in  capital  letters ;  that  of  Rubens, 
under  the  date  1631,  and  that  of  Van  Dyck  under 
1634.  Van  Dyck  deserves  more,  then,  than  to  be 
called  "the  moon  of  Eubens'  sun."  In  the  "first 
place  he  equalled  his  master  in  fertility.  His  life 
indeed  was  shorter  by  one-half — I  mean  his  artist 
life,  which  scarcely  begins  under  twenty.  He  died 
when  forty-two,  and  so  could  only  work  half  as  long 


164  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

as  Kubens,  who  lived  to  be  sixty-three.  If  we 
endeavor  to  count  his  works,  we  shall  find  forty  at 
St.  Petersburg,  forty-one  at  Munich,  twenty-four  in 
the  Belvedere,  and  twenty-four  in  the  Lichtenstein 
galleries  at  Vienna,  nineteen  at  Dresden,  twenty-two 
at  Windsor,  and  I  do  not  know  how  many  in  the 
National  Gallery,  in  the  Museo  del  Eey,  and  in  the 
Louvre. 

If  we  continue  the  parallel,  we  must  make  a  dis- 
tinction :  Van  Dyck  remained  below  his  master  in 
composition.  In  the  first  place,  he  is  very  far  from 
having  his  inexhaustible  invention ;  he  usually  con- 
fined himself  to  a  Dead  Christ,  frequently  repeated, 
and  a  Mater  Dolor  osa,  with  her  eyes  always  raised 
to  heaven  and  reddened  with  tears.  Van  Dyck  also 
does  not  possess  the  wonderful  execution  of  Eubens. 
However,  some  very  fine  works  suffice  to  prove  what 
he  might  have  done  in  a  longer  and  freer  life.  Such, 
for  example,  is  the  Taking  of  Jesus  in  the  Garden  of 
Gethsemane,  which  is  in  the  Museum  of  Madrid. 
At  first  sight,  when  the  eye  encounters  the  red  glare 
of  the  torches  borne  by  the  soldiers,  the  picture 
might  be  taken  for  the  work  of  Jordaens ;  but  in  the 
rather  studied  elegance  of  the  attitudes,  the  beauty 
of  the  features,  the  delicacy  of  the  touch,  and  the 
moderation  in  the  effects,  we  recognize  the  more 
elevated  and  softer  style  of  Van  Dyck.  Others  of 
his  finer  composition  may  be  found  in  various  gal- 
leries. At  Munich  there  is  a  Christ  on  tJie  Cross,  of 
wonderful  expression  and  effect ;  at  Vienna,  the 
Vision  of  the  Blessed  Hermann  Joseph,  a  favored 
monk,  who  is  receiving  the  ring  given  him  by  the 


FLEMISH    SCHOOL.  165 

Virgin  in  sign  of  mystic  marriage;  at  Dresden, 
a  Danae  receiving  the  rain  of  golden  pieces  which  a 
Love — unworthy  of  the  name — is  trying  on  a  touch- 
stone ;  at  Antwerp,  another  Christ  on  the  Cross,  be- 
tween St.  Dominic  and  St.  Catherine  of  Sienna,  a 
simple  work,  though  one  of  great  nobility,  which 
Van  Dyck  painted  in  1629,  to  accomplish  a  vow  of 
his  dying  father ;  at  Brussels,  there  is  a  Martyrdom 
of  St.  Peter,  which  unites  great  energy  to  the  dig- 
nity requisite  for  a  sacred  subject ;  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, the  celebrated  Madonna  ivith  the  Partridges, 
which  formed  the  glory  of  Sir  Eobert  "Walpole's 
gallery  before  it  was  acquired  by  the  Empress 
Catherine  ;  lastly,  at  the  Louvre,  we  find  a  third 
Dead  Christ,  wept  over  by  his  mother  and  adored 
by  angels  and  cherubim — all  the  figures  small. 

But  in  portrait  painting  Van  Dyck  fully  makes  up 
for  any  deficiency  in  composition  ;  there  he  sur- 
passes all  the  painters  of  his  time,  including  even 
Rubens  ;  there  he  rises  to  the  greatest  height,  and 
fears  no  rival  but  Titian,  Holbein,  Velazquez,  and 
Rembrandt.  We  have  merely  time  to  take  a  rapid 
survey  of  the  most  celebrated  of  his  portraits,  which 
have  been  dispersed  over  Europe.  Antwerp  has 
retained  that  of  its  fifth  bishop,  John  Malderus,  and 
the  more  astonishing  one  of  the  Italian  Scaglia,  one 
of  the  negotiators  for  Spain  at  the  Congress  of 
Munster.  Italy — where  Van  Dyck  remained  for  five 
years  in  order  to  complete  before  the  works  of  Ti- 
tian the  lessons  of  Rubens — has  retained  several  of 
nis  portraits.  At  Florence,  Charles  V.  on  horse- 
back, with  an  eagle  bringing  him  the  laurel  wreath ; 


166  WONDERS    OF   PAINTING. 

at  Turin,  the  Prince  Thomas  de  Savoie-Carignan, 
in  an  heroic  posture,  rather  too  heroic  for  this  gen- 
eral of  medium  ability,  and  which  would  scarcely 
suit  even  the  conqueror  of  Malplaquet.  The  Na- 
tional Gallery  of  London  shows  with  pride  one  oi 
the  greatest  works  of  Van  Dyck.  This  is  the  bust 
of  an  old  man  of  a  grave  and  noble  countenance, 
who  is  said  to  be  the  learned  Gevartius  (Gevaerts, 
historiographer  of  Antwerp),  but  who  is  rather,  ac- 
cording to  the  engraving  by  P.  Pontius,  Cornelius  van 
der  Guest,  artis  pictorial  amator.  At  Windsor,  among 
many  other  of  his  works,  there  is  a  portrait  of  a 
Mrs.  Margaret  Leman,  which  is  beautiful,  both  from 
nature  and  art.  The  same  praise  may  be  given  to 
a  Countess  of  Oxford  in  the  Madrid  Museum.  In 
Germany,  especially  in  Munich,  the  finest  of  the 
portraits  are  pendents,  representing  a  Burgomaster 
of  Anhuerp  and  his  Wife,  both  clothed  in  rich  black 
robes.  Van  Dyck  has  never  surpassed  these  two 
admirable  works.  I  shall  not  say  it  is  nature  itself, 
the  praise  would  be  insufficient,  when  speaking  of 
art ;  but  I  shall  say  it  is  the  highest  point  art  can 
attain  in  the  imitation  of  nature.  These  are 
equalled,  however,  by  two  other  portraits,  the  pride 
of  the  Lichtenstein  Gallery  of  Vienna,  which  have 
been  placed  as  pendents,  and  have  an  advantage 
over  the  others  in  the  interest  attaching  to  beauty 
and  fame.  The  former,  a  model  of  grace  and 
beauty,  is  a  young  princess  of  Tour-et-Taxis  ;  the 
second,  still  more  astonishing  as  a  work  of  art,  is  an 
admirable  head  of  a  warrior,  full  of  energy  and 
power  ;  his  bearing  is  haughty,  his  glance  imperious, 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  167 

and  his  red  moustache,  turned  up  at  the  ends, 
covers  a  mouth  in  which  may  be  read  disdainful 
pride  and  the  habit  of  command.  T.i's  is  said  to 
be  the  famous  Wallenstew,  Duke  of  Friedland,  the 
adversary  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  one  of  the  most 
prominent  chieftains  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  But 
it  is  difficult  to  adapt  this  fine  martial  countenance 
to  the  history  of  the  dreadful  leader  of  the  con- 
dottieri  of  Ferdinand  IL,  and  to  the  descriptions 
given  of  him  by  contemporary  annals.  And,  be- 
sides, where  could  Van  Dyck  have  seen  him  ?  It 
must  have  been  merely  the  desire  of  giving  a  cele- 
brated name  to  this  celebrated  picture  which  led  to 
its  receiving  that  of  Wallenstein.  The  hermitage 
also  possesses  a  collection  of  portraits  by  Van 
Dyck.  In  the  first  place,  one  of  Charles  I.  of  Eng- 
land, at  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  Henrietta. 
Maria  of  France,  at  twenty-six;  the  former  in 
armor  and  the  latter  in  court  dress.  Then  two 
other  ladies,  who  have  been  supposed  to  be  the  wife 
and  daughter  of  Cromwell,  and  a  warrior,  holding  a 
baton  of  command,  who  is  usually  called  Cromwell 
himself.  There  must  be  some  error  in  these  desig- 
nations. Van  Dyck  died  in  1641.  At  this  period 
Cromwell  was  scarcely  known,  having  only  just  en- 
tered into  the  Long  Parliament,  and  he  was  only 
named  general  of  cavalry  in  1644.  But  these 
pseudo -historic  portraits  and  many  others,  even  that 
of  the  young  Prince  of  Orange,  are  all  surpassed  by 
that  of  a  certain  Van  der  Wouver,  who  was  minister 
for  Spain  in  the  Netherlands.  This  portrait,  painted 


1G8  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

in  1632,  may  dispute  the  foremost  rank  with  the 
Wallenstein  and  Gevartius. 

The  Louvre  is  not  less  rich.  It  possesses,  in  the 
first  place,  a  portrait  of  the  royal  protector  of  the 
painter,  Charles  L,  life-size,  in  the  elegant  costume 
of  the  cavaliers ;  an  excellent  work,  wiiich  Madame 
Dubarry  disputed  for  with  the  Empress  of  Prussia, 
and  purchased  very  dearly,  wishing,  as  she  said, 
"  to  preserve  a  family  portrait."  It  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  this  picture  has  not  its  usual  pendent, 
the  heroic  Henrietta  Maria  of  France,  whose  funeral 
oration  was  pronounced  by  Bossuet.  Afterwards 
come  the  three  children  of  Charles  and  Henrietta 
Maria,  all  celebrated,  all  crowned  after  their  exile — 
Charles  II.,  James  II.,  and  Mary,  wife  of  William 
of  Orange,  whose  son  became  William  III.  of  Eng- 
land. There  are,  besides,  the  portraits  of  two  other 
brothers,  also  princes,  one  of  whom,  although  a 
foreigner,  played  an  important  part  in  the  history  of 
England  in  the  seventeenth  century.  These  are 
Ludwig  I.,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  and  his  younger 
brother,  known  as  Prince  Rupert,  who  was  one  of 
the  unfortunate  generals  of  Charles  I.,  was  created 
Duke  of  Cumberland  by  Charles  II.,  and  who,  hav- 
ing devoted  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  the  applica- 
tion of  physical  science  to  art  and  trade,  is  said  to 
have  invented  engraving  in  mezzo-tinto.  Another 
portrait  is  of  Don  Francisco  de  Mon§ada,  on  horse- 
back and  in  armor.  This  worthy  rival  of  the  Marie 
de  Medici  as  Bellona,  is  perhaps  the  finest  of  the 
rare  equestrian  portraits  by  Van  Dyck,  and  the 
honor  of  having  been  engraved  by  Raphael  Mor- 


FLEMISH    SCHOOL.  169 

ghen  adds  still  more  to  its  value  and  celebrity. 
Lastly,  there  are  pendents,  one  of  them  a  man 
standing,  dressed  in  black,  the  other  a  lady  seated 
in  a  crimson  chair,  both  holding  a  young  girl  by  the 
hand,  and  forming  the  usual  pendents  of  a  husband 
and  wife.  These,  although  of  unknown  persons, 
seem  to  me  the  highest  expression  of  the  marvellous 
talent  of  Van  Dyck — at  all  events,  of  those  in  the 
Louvre.  They  are  nearly  equal  to  the  Munich  pen- 
dents of  the  burgomaster  and  his  wife,  which  are 
surpassed  by  none. 

In  all  these  portraits,  amongst  other  qualities,  we 
find  invariably  that  grace  and  distinguished  look 
which  cannot  fail  to  be  a  little  conventional,  and 
even  sometimes  introduced  at  the  expense  of  truth, 
since  Van  Dyck  has  given  it  to  all  his  portraits. 
The  explanation  of  this  special  trait  may  perhaps 
be  found  in  the  portrait  of  Van  Dyck  himself,  in  his 
brilliant  youth.  The  handsome  face  of  the  pittore 
cavalieresco,  as  the  Italians  called  him,  where  it  may 
be  seen  that  the  artist  took  the  nobility  from  himself, 
with  which  he  so  liberally  endowed  his  models,  ac- 
counts for  much  of  his  success  in  gallantry.  It  also 
explains  the  high  marriage  which  he,  a  simple  artist, 
the  son  of  a  linendraper,  made  two  centuries  ago 
in  aristocratic  England  with  the  grand-daughter 
of  the  Earl  of  Gowrie,  the  niece  of  the  Duchess  of 
Montrose. 

I  consider  that  DAVID  TENIERS  the  younger  (1610- 
1685)  may  also  be  considered  a  disciple  of  Eubens, 
although  he  received  no  other  lessons  than  those  of 
his  father,  whom  he  far  surpassed,  though,  at  the 


170  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

same  time,  imitating  him.  Having  now  come  tc 
Teniers,  we  must  retrace  our  steps  for  a  few  minutes 
in  order  to  be  better  able  to  understand  him. 

We  have  seen  that  most  of  the  Flemish  artists, 
following  the  example  of  Mabuse,  Van  Orley,  Coxis, 
and  Franz  Floris,  had  become  impregnated,  if  we  may 
be  allowed  the  expression,  with  Italian  art,  forming 
by  the  union  a  new  school  of  which  Rubens  was  the 
head.  Some,  however,  remained  pure  Flemings, 
and  would  not  owe  any  of  their  excellence  to  Italy. 
Of  this  number  was  the  family  of  POUHBUS  (Peter, 
the  elder,  and  the  younger,  Franz),  and  the  more 
numerous  family  of  FRANCKEN,  father,  uncles,  sons, 
and  grandsons.  The  younger  Pourbus  (1570-1622) 
settled  in  France  when  very  young,  where  he  left 
two  portraits  of  Henry  IV.  of  small  size,  both 
painted  in  1610,  the  same  year  in  which  that  king 
fell  by  the  hand  of  Ravaillac.  Amongst  the  pure 
Flemings  may  also  be  found  JOACHIM  PATINIER 
(about  1520),  who  had  the  distinguished  honor  of 
being  painted  by  Albert  Diirer  and  praised  by 
Rabelais  ;  HENRI  VAN  BLES,  whom  the  Italians  called 
Civetta  (the  owl),  because  he  chose  that  bird  of 
darkness  for  his  monogram  ;  and,  lastly,  the  elder 
PIETER  BREUGHEL  (1520?-about  1600),  also  called 
Peasant  or  Jovial  Breughel,  to  distinguish  him  from 
his  son  Jan,  named  also  Velvet  Breughel,  and  from 
his  grandson  Pieter,  called  Hell  Breughel.  He  was 
one  of  the  painters  of  the  comic  and  familiar  genre 
so  dear  to  the  painters  of  the  Netherlands,  in  which 
also  Brauwer,  Jan  Steen,  Ostade,  and  Teniers  ex- 
celled. To  find  good  specimens  of  his  works  we 


FLEMISH    SCHOOL.  171 

may  go  to  the  Belvedere  at  Vienna.  He  we  shall 
find  one  of  Winter,  an  animated  landscape,  where 
the  aspect  and  the  pleasures  of  the  season  are  de- 
picted ;  Children  s  Sports,  in  which  we  see  a  school 
during  playtime,  the  boys  all  indulging  in  the  games 
invented  for  their  amusement ;  and  also  the  Fight 
between  Carnival  and  Lent,  in  which  the  thin  are 
fighting  against  the  fat,  a  popular  comedy  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  I  do  not  think  it  extravagant  to  say 
that,  if  Kabelais  himself  had  narrated  this  burlesque 
battle,  there  would  not  have  been  more  invention  or 
wit  in  his  written  description  than  in  Breughel's 
painting.  It  is  dated  1559,  and  was  thus  only 
twenty  years  later  than  the  Gargantua. 

Sometimes  Breughel  rises  to  more  serious  works  ; 
I  mean  to  graver  subjects,  which  he  treats  almost  in 
the  same  manner  as  popular  comedies.  In  the 
picture  of  Christ  bearing  his  Cross,  Calvary  is  seen 
in  the  distance  with  the  crosses  on  its  summit ;  the 
two  thieves  are  being  drawn  along  in  a  cart  and 
exhorted  by  a  monk,  who,  as  the  height  of  historical 
accuracy,  is  holding  a  crucifix  in  his  hand.  Our 
Lord  is  walking  behind  them,  dragging  a  log  of  wood, 
in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  people,  dressed  in  doub- 
lets and  trunk-hose,  some  of  whom,  attempting  the 
deliverance  of  the  prisoners,  are  repulsed  by  the 
halberds  and  arquebuses  of  the  soldiers  of  police. 
Breughel,  in  this  resembles  Shakespeare ;  who,  in 
Troilus  and  Cressida,  makes  Ulysses  say  Amen.  In 
the  Building  of  the  Tower  of  Babel  we  see,  between 
a  Flemish  town,  which  is  intended  to  represent 
Babylon,  and  a  river,  with  green  banks,  which  is 


172  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

the  Euphrates,  the  tower  itself,  built  of  stone  and 
brick.  The  king  has  come  to  see  the  works  and 
hasten  them  on.  The  enormous  building  is  already 
so  high  that  a  cloud  conceals  the  summit.  Breughel, 
who  gave  so  much  local  coloring  to  his  works,  had, 
at  all  events,  the  sense  to  give  the  tower  the  form 
of  a  pyramid,  the  shape  of  all  the  ancient  oriental 
monuments,  as  well  in  India  as  in  Egypt.  This 
picture,  dated  1563,  is  a  small  world  in  motion, 
and  the  great  finish  of  the  execution  gives  it  as 
much  interest  and  value  as  the  singularity  of  the 
subject. 

The  inventor  of  gre^e-painting  amongst  the  Flem- 
ings leads  us  to  the  master  of  the  school. 

It  is  said  that  Louis  XIV.,  at  the  sight  of  some 
pictures  by  David  Teniers,  which  were  presented  to 
him  at  Versailles,  cried  out  impatiently,  in  apparent 
disgust :  "Emportez  vite  ces  magots  !  "  General  taste 
has  not  ratified  this  condemnation  absurdly  pro- 
nounced by  the  great  king,  who  only  appreciated 
the  heavy  pictures  of  Lebrun  and  Jouvenet,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  style  of  his  Versailles.  Princes 
now  seek  no  less  eagerly  than  plebeians  for  these 
same  grotesque  pictures  to  put  in  their  museums. 
Where  is  Teniers  not  to  be  found,  even  in  consider- 
able numbers  ?  At  Madrid,  there  are  sixty  pictures 
by  his  hand,  at  St.  Petersburg,  forty-seven,  at  Dres- 
den, twenty-three,  at  Vienna,  twenty-three  also,  at 
Munich,  fourteen  ;  and  it  would  be  almost  impossible 
to  count  those  he  has  left  elsewhere,  after  fruitful 
labor  as  an  artist  during  more  than  fifty  years. 
"  To  contain  all  my  pictures,"  said  he,  "  two  leagues 


FLEMISH    SCHOOL.  173 

of  galleries  would  be  required."  His  best  works, 
however,  coine  neither  at  the  beginning  nor  end  of 
his  long  career :  they  belong  rather  to  what  is  called 
his  silver  period.  Th.  Thore  says  correctly  of  Te- 
niers,  "  that  the  pictures  belonging  to  his  middle 
life  are  the  best.  In  his  youth  he  followed  his  father 
too  implicitly ;  in  his  old  age  his  imagination  be- 
came somewhat  stereotyped,  and  his  hand  some- 
what heavier.  Teniers  is  like  some  of  the  fishes 
he  painted  so  well,  excellent  between  the  head  and 
tail." 

Teniers,  who  became  rich  and  celebrated,  and 
was  able  to  entertain  at  his  castle  of  Trois-Tours 
(at  Perck,  between  Antwerp  and  Malines)  the  most 
select  society  of  the  Netherlands,  was  the  guest  and 
friend  of  the  governors,  the  Archdukes  Albert  and 
Leopold  William.  He  was  afterwards  the  friend 
and  master  of  the  second  Don  John  of  Austria 
(natural  and  favorite  son  of  Philip  IV.  and  of  the 
comedian  Maria  Calderon).  In  the  North,  Chris- 
tina of  Sweden  valued  his  works  very  highly,  and 
paid  for  them  magnificently.  In  the  South,  Philip 
IV.  of  Spain,  the  most  fervent  lover  of  art,  admired 
them  so  much,  and  acquired  so  many,  that  he  was 
able  to  form  a  whole  gallery  of  them.  But  the 
anathema  of  Louis  XIV.  long  kept  Teniers  out  of 
the  Cabinet  of  the  Kings  of  France  ;  so  it  is  not  in 
the  Louvre  that  he  can  be  thoroughly  appreciated. 
He  is  still  incomplete  there.  Several  even  of  the 
fifteen  pictures  which  represent  him  are  merely 
what  are  termed  his  after-dinner  works,  because 
Teniers  only  began  and  completed  them  between 


174:  WONDEllS    OF   PAINTING. 

his  evening  repast  and  sleep.  Certainly  his  Temp- 
tation of  St.  Antony  is  full  of  ingenious  drolleries, 
delicately  finished.  But  where  are  not  amusing 
Temptations  of  St.  Antony  to  be  found  ?  What  gal- 
lery in  Europe  can,  at  least,  not  show  one  of  them  ? 
Madrid  alone  has  three,  all  more  important  than 
that  in  the  Louvre.  Doubtless,  also,  the  Feasts, 
Village  Dances,  and  Tavern  Scenes  which  he  so  much 
loved  to  represent,  his  Peter  denying  Christ  (the  scene 
of  which  is,  strangely  enough,  represented  as  taking 
place  amidst  a  corps  of  Walloon  Infantry),  and 
especially  his  Prodigal  Son — a  young  Flemish  gentle- 
man amusing  himself  with  the  courtesans  of  Brussels 
(under  this  Biblical  title  the  painter  has  represented 
himself  with  his  whole  family) — show  in  their  ex- 
quisite perfection  his  profound  acquaintance  with 
the  principles  of  art  which  effectually  conceals  the 
art  employed,  and  his  touch,  at  once  fine,  strong, 
simple,  and  yet  skillful,  always  so  recognizable,  even 
in  the  smallest  accessories,  that  Greuse  said  :  "  Show 
me  a  pipe,  and  I  will  tell  you  if  the  smoker  is  by 
Teniers."  But  for  the  museum  in  the  capital  of 
France  we  should  have  wished  for  some  more  im- 
portant work,  something  more  uncommon. 

At  Antwerp  we  shall  find  Valenciennes  relieved,  a 
strange  historical  picture,  curious  from  its  trophies 
of  arms  and  from  the  medals  which  contain  the  por- 
traits of  the  conquering  generals,  amongst  whom  we 
may  see  with  pain,  if  not  with  surprise,  that  of  the 
great  Conde,  who  was  a  deserter  here,  and  amongst 
the  enemy's  ranks.  At  Munich  is  the  great  Italian 
Fair,  measuring  4  yards  by  3 ;  at  Vienna,  in  the 


FLEMISH    SCHOOLS.  175 

Belvedere,  the  Sacrifice  of  Isaac  ;  in  the  gallery  of 
the  Archduke  Leopold  the  magnificent  Festival  of 
the  Sablons  ;  and  in  the  Esterhazy  Gallery  the  Seven 
Works  of  Mercy.  Lastly,  at  the  two  extremities  of 
artistic  Europe,  Madrid  and  St.  Petersburg,  the  only 
difficulty  is  to  choose  among  the  numerous  master- 
pieces. In  the  Museo  del  Rey  I  may  mention,  be- 
sides the  three  Temptations,  the  King  is  drinking,  a 
charming  table  scene  ;  or  several  Festivals,  amongst 
which  there  is  one  dated  1637,  of  extraordinary  size 
and  wonderful  coloring ;  or  the  twelve  pictures  of 
the  same  size  containing  the  story  of  Eenaldo  and 
Armida.  Teniers  certainly  shows  himself  rather 
awkward  in  this  heroic  picture,  and  much  embar- 
rassed to  represent  seriously  these  types  of  nobility 
and  beauty  ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  constraint  he 
felt  in  the  subject,  his  pencil  preserved  all  its  easi- 
ness, force,  and  brilliancy ;  and  it  is  curious  to  wit- 
ness this  obstinate  struggle  of  the  painter  against 
his  own  nature,  and  the  powerful  execution  contend- 
ing with  an  almost  ridiculous  weakness  in  composi- 
tion. We  must  also  say  a  few  words  about  a  more 
perfect  work.  This  is  called  a  Picture  Gallery 
visited  by  Gentlemen.  In  signing  this  painting  Teni- 
ers wrote  after  his  name  Pintor  de  la  Camera  (for 
cdmara)  de  S.  A.  S.  The  explanation  of  this  sub- 
ject and  of  this  Spanish  inscription  is  as  follows  : — 
The  Archduke  Leopold  William,  Governor  of  the 
Netherlands  for  Spain,  with  whom  Teniers  was  very 
intimate,  had  commissioned  our  painter  to  compose 
for  him,  not  merely  an  amateur's  cabinet,  but  the 
gallery  of  a  prince.  When  he  had  fulfilled  this 


176  WONDEHS  OF  PAINTING. 

delicate  commission,  Teniers  conceived  tlie  idea  of 
perpetuating  the  memory  of  it  by  a  picture.  In  it 
we  see  the  archduke,  in  company  with  several  other 
gentlemen,  entering  the  gallery,  where  Teniers  is 
presenting  him  with  some  drawings  spread  out  on 
the  table.  From  top  to  bottom  the  walls  are  cov- 
ered with  the  pictures  of  his  choice,  faithfully  copied, 
in  microscopical  proportions,  but  in  which  may  be 
yet  recognized,  not  merely  the  subject,  but  even  the 
touch  of  each  master.  As  for  the  figures,  which 
are  portraits,  they  have  as  much  truth  and  far  more 
nobleness  of  style  than  the  usual  personages  of 
Teniers.  There  is  no  need  to  insist  any  more 
on  the  value  and  importance  of  this  singular  work. 

At  the  Hermitage  of  St.  Petersburg  there  is  the 
same  difficulty  in  choosing,  and  the  same  necessity 
for  brevity.  We  must,  then,  merely  mention  a 
Kitchen,  full  of  game,  fish,  vegetables,  and  fruit,  in 
which  Teniers  has  painted  his  father  as  an  old  blind 
fisherman,  and  himself  as  a  falconer ;  a  beautiful 
and  curious  View  of  the  Castle  of  Trots-  Tours,  where 
he  studied  at  his  ease  his  usual  models,  the  Braban- 
Qon  peasants,  where  he  could,  as  Foutenelle  said, 
"  take  nature  at  home  ;"  and,  lastly,  the  great  pic- 
ture, 4  feet  high  by  7  or  8  wide,  which  was  painted 
in  1643  for  the  Guild  of  Archers,  and  which  was 
called  the  Archers  of  Antiverp.  In  the  large  square 
of  the  town,  where,  among  a  crowd  of  on  lookers, 
the  various  guilds  of  trade  are  defiling  in  parade 
dress,  this  guild  of  archers  is  assembled.  Forty-five 
personages,  from  8  to  10  inches  in  height,  are  col- 
lected in  the  foreground.  All  are  finished  with  tha 


FLEMISH  SCHOOL.  177 

most  minute  care,  and  in  a  style  which,  without 
being  unnatural,  is  far  removed  from  triviality.  The 
arrangement  of  the  crowd  in  the  distance  is  wonder- 
ful, as  well  as  the  rendering  of  the  details.  The  air 
appears  really  to  circulate  among  the  animated 
groups,  which  seem  to  possess  life  and  movement. 
Descamps  was  right  to  call  this  work  "  the  finest 
painting  of  Teniers,"  for  the  fruitful  pencil  of  this 
master  never  produced  anything  more  perfect.  Dur- 
ing the  First  Empire,  Cassel,  under  compulsion, 
yielded  it  up  to  Malmaison,  and  Malmaison,  alas  1 
sold  it  to  the  Hermitage. 

Teniers  has  left  everywhere  Village  Feasts,  Smoking 
Scenes,  Country  Inns,  Laboratories,  Shops,  and  Kitchens. 
But  whatever  amount  of  drollery  and  gaiety  he  im- 
parted to  these  everyday  scenes,  he  gave  as  much 
heart-rending  sadness  to  another  class  of  subjects, 
which  was  also  brought  before  him  only  too  fre- 
quently, the  Herrors  of  War,  where  he  depicts  in 
the  most  lively  way  all  the  insolence  and  cruelty  of 
the  soldiery.  Lastly,  among  the  infinite  variety  of 
his  compositions  we  must  not  forget  certain  comic 
scenes  in  which  monkeys  and  cats  are  the  actors, 
and  in  which  more  than  one  sly  satire  is  conveyed. 
In  Teniers  everything  deserves  attention  and  praise. 

Two  artists  come  in  here  who,  although  they 
settled  in  France,  must  yet  be  given  up  to  the 
Flemish  school  for  the  same  reason  as  Poussin  and 
Claude  Lorraine,  although  they  lived  and  labored 
in  Italy,  belong  justly  to  the  French  school. 
These  are  Philippe  de  Champagne  and  Van  der 
Meulen. 


178  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

Born  at  Brussels,  but  the  fellow  disciple  of  Pous- 
sin  in  his  youth,  and  soon  painter  to  the  queen- 
niother,  the  widow  of  Henry  IV.,  PHILIPPE  DE  CHAM- 
PAGNE (1602-1674)  spent  the  greater  part  of  his 
artist's  life  at  Paris,  where  he  knew  Jansenius,  and 
became  one  of  the  most  fervent  of  the  Port-Royal- 
ists.  These  circumstances  explain  how  it  happens 
that  his  greatest  works  have  remained  in  France, 
and  how  it  is  that  he  appears  rather  to  have  derived 
his  art  from  Simon  Vouet  than  from  Rubens,  and  to 
have  transmitted  it  to  Charles  Lebrun.  And,  in- 
deed, in  the  time  of  Louis  XIII.,  he  prepared  the 
way  for  the  art  of  the  next  age,  as  Pascal  and  Cor- 
neille  prepared  the  way  in  literature,  and  Bichelieu 
in  politics.  His  style  is  already  noble,  correct,  and 
cold.  He  abandons  the  pursuit  of  fancy  in  the 
search  for  order  and  discipline.  In  the  Louvre 
there  are  the  Legend  of  St.  Gervasius  and  St.  Prota- 
sius,  a  Last  Supper,  a  cold  imitation  of  the  one  by 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  a  Dead  Christ,  lying  on  a  wind- 
ing-sheet, and  also  the  Education  of  Achilles  in 
shooting  with  a  bow  and  in  chariot  races.  In  the 
regular  and  symmetric  arrangement,  in  the  chastened 
but  cold  drawing,  in  the  calm  and  pale  coloring,  we 
feel  the  systematic  avoidance  of  Eubens,  we  foresee 
the  Battles  of  Alexander. 

Philippe  de  Champagne  as  a  portrait  painter  is 
assuredly  greater  than  as  an  historical  painter.  His 
faults  are  less  sensible,  his  good  qualities  more 
prominent.  That  of  Louis  XIII.,  who,  notwith- 
standing the  helmet,  cuirass,  sword,  and  armor,  and 
the  laurels  of  victory  with  which  he  is  crowned,  stil] 


FLEMISH   SCHOOL.  179 

looks  timid,  weak,  and  ill-tempered  ;  and  that  of 
Richelieu,  V Eminence  rouge,  who,  on  the  contrary,  is 
strong,  imperious,  and  powerful  under  a  simple 
gown  of  silk,  are  happy  and  complete  historical 
figures.  We  may  also  praise  unreservedly  the  por- 
trait of  a  very  pale  lady,  who  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  wife  of  the  barrister  Antoine  Arnauld, 
restorer  of  Port-Royal,  by  whom  she  had  twenty- 
two  children  ;  that  ot  the  amiable  Arnauld  d'Andilly, 
their  eldest  son,  who  was  called  I' Ami  universel ; 
those  of  the  architects  Claude  Perrault  and  Jules 
Hardoin  Mansart,  in  one  frame  ;  and  his  own  at 
the  age  of  sixty-six,  painted  after  the  Jesuits  had 
driven  him,  as  well  as  his  friends,  from  the  monas- 
tery of  the  Jansenists,  where  he  had  retired.  Lastly, 
in  the  two  nuns  of  Port-Boyal,  one  ill,  the  other  at 
prayer,  in  which  Philippe  de  Champagne  has  cele- 
brated the  cure,  supposed  to  be  miraculous,  of  his 
daughter,  the  sister  Sainte-Suzanne,  by  the  mother 
Catherine  Agnes  Arnauld,  he  certainly  shows  the 
perfection  to  which  his  talent  could  attain.  "  Never, 
perhaps,"  says  M.  Ch.  Blanc,  "  has  the  expression 
of  what  is  inexpressible  been  carried  to  a  greater 
height.  Philippe  de  Champagne  rose  in  this  pic- 
ture, on  the  wings  of  faith  and  love,  to  the  highest 
flights  of  art." 

His  fellow  countryman,  like  him,  born  at  Brussels 
and  dying  at  Paris,  ANTON  FRANZ  VAN  DEB  MEULEN 
(1634-1690),  became  one  of  the  greatest  historio- 
graphers of  Louis  XIV.  Whilsb  Lebrun  celebrated 
in  ancient  allegories  the  great  deeds  of  the  great 
king,  Van  der  Meulen  traced  the  plan,  the  details, 


180  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

the  incidents,  and,  in  his  way,  took  the  portrait  of 
these  achievements.  And  he  does  not  merely  depict 
the  warlike  exploits  at  which  the  king  assisted  in 
state,  attended  by  the  whole  court,  inchidhig  the 
three  queens  in  the  same  coach ;  he  relates  exactly, 
even  the  familiar  incidents  of  the  court,  the  hunting 
at  Versailles  and  the  promenades  at  Marly.  His 
pictures  are  veritable  annals,  as  interesting  as  those 
of  St.  Simon.  This  genre  requires  numerous  quali- 
ties and  different  talents.  A  fine  and  scientific 
arrangement,  movement  without  confusion,  order, 
even  in  the  confusion  of  a  multitude,  the  knowledge 
and  judicious  employment  of  the  costumes,  arms, 
military  and  civil  manners,  the  gift  of  portrait  paint- 
ing, the  art  of  representing  a  number  of  different 
objects,  men,  animals,  especially  horses,*  buildings, 
landscapes,  and  even  air  and  space.  In  this  genre, 
of  which  he  may  be  said  to  be  the  inventor,  and  for 
which  he  was  certainly  the  model,  it  would  be  use- 
less to  look  for  better  specimens  than  the  best  works 
of  Van  der  Meulen.  It  will  suffice  to  mention  among 
the  twrenty-three  pictures  in  the  Louvre,  the  Taking 
of  Dinan,  on  the  Meuse,  and  the  magnificent  En- 
trance of  Louis  XIV.  and  Marie  Therese  into  Arras, 
in  August,  1667.  I  do  not  know  whether,  in  paint- 
ing these  victories  of  the  King  of  France  in  Flan- 


*  It  is  probable  that  Van  der  Meulen,  having  married  the  niece 
of  Lebrun,  a  coquette  who  troubled  and  shortened  his  life, 
painted  the  horses  in  the  large  pictures  of  the  all-powerful  painter 
of  the  king,  who  had  recommended  him  to  Colbert  and  brought 
him  to  Paris. 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  181 

dors,  the  Fleming  Van  der  Meulen  felt  any  of  the 
remorse  of  a  deserter ;  but  certainly  his  inimitable 
talent  placed  at  the  conqueror's  service  all  the  zeal 
of  a  new  convert ;  and  I  like  to  believe  that  he 
celebrated  sincerely,  not  the  fall  of  the  towns  in  his 
native  country,  but  their  accession  to  the  French 
country  which  he  had  himself  adopted. 

Van  der  Meulen  is,  with  the  disciples  of  Teniers, 
the  last  of  the  Flemish  painters  before  the  great 
and  total  eclipse  which  occurred  in  their  country, 
as  everywhere  else,  during  the  eighteenth  century. 
Flemish  art,  now  become  that  of  Belgium,  only 
revived  on  contact  with  the  French  art  under  David 
and  his  school.  It  remained  at  first  the  docile  pupil 
of  its  masters,  for  M.  Gallait,  for  example,  as  well 
as  M.  Wauters,  is  a  French  painter.  But  since 
then  Belgic  art,  fully  emancipated,  has  wisely  re- 
turned to  the  Flemish  traditions.  M.  Henry  Leys, 
of  Antwerp,  set  the  example  ;  MM.  Villems,  Stevens, 
Clays,  Caesar  de  Cock,  and  others  have  followed 
him,  and  attained  great  success  in  this  national  road 
to  fame.* 


DUTCH   SCHOOL. 

The  great  Chancellor  Bacon  has  said  that  art  is 
man  added  to  nature,  "Ars  est  homo  additus  naturce" 
This  good  definition  applies  especially  to  the  pan- 
theistic art  of  Holland.  All  the  painters  of  the 

*  M.  Leys  died  1869,  leaving  the  first  place  amongst  the  artists 
of  his  country  vacant. 


182  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

country  of  Spinosa  have  appeared  to  confine  them- 
selves to  loving,  understanding,  and  representing 
nature,  every  one  adding  his  own  feelings  and  tastes 
— in  fact,  adding  himself.  To  be  convinced  of  this 
we  should  only  have  to  visit  several  parts  of  Hol- 
land, at  different  hours,  and  in  different  weather. 
When,  on  a  dark  cloudy  day,  we  come  upon  a  bar- 
ren landscape  where  nature  displays  all  the  harsh- 
ness and  gloom  of  the  north — where  no  flocks,  no 
living  creature  is  to  be  seen,  but  only  a  ravine,  a 
waterfall,  a  fallen  tree,  with,  perhaps,  an  isolated 
cabin  in  the  background — we  recognize  at  once  the 
lover  of  melancholy,  Jacob  Euysdael.  If,  again, 
soon  after  sunrise,  we  find  ourselves  on  the  banks 
of  a  river,  with  a  white  sail  gliding  on  its  surface,  a 
church  and  the  houses  of  a  village  rising  beyond, 
and  fat  cows  grazing  in  the  rich  meadows,  whilst, 
through  the  broken  clouds,  the  morning  sun  floods 
every  object  below  with  its  glorious  light,  we  ex- 
claim at  once,  "  Here  is  the  lover  of  light,  Albert 
Cuyp."  Later  in  the  day,  during  the  noontide  calm, 
we  perceive  a  peaceful  verdant  orchard,  where  every 
tree  throws  its  shadow  over  the  turf,  and  an  animal 
— either  an  ox,  a  horse,  an  ass,  a  goat,  a  sheep,  or 
a  pig — rests  in  its  most  natural  attitude  in  the  shade 
under  every  tree.  Here  there  is  no  difficulty  in  at 
once  recognizing  Paul  Potter,  the  painter  La  Fon- 
taine. In  the  evening,  perhaps,  we  come  to  a  smil- 
ing landscape  in  which  fat  cattle  are  grazing,  whilst 
the  shepherds  sing  to  their  rustic  Amaryllis,  accom- 
panied by  the  sound  of  their  pipes.  In  short,  we 
come  upon  an  idyll  such  as  might  be  written  by  a 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  183 

Dutch  Virgil,  and  we  behold  at  once  Adrian  Van  do 
Velde.  Still  later  in  the  evening,  when  the  moon 
has  risen  on  a  throne  of  black  clouds,  with  her  disk 
reflected  in  the  motionless  surface  of  a  pond,  sur- 
rounded by  a  few  cottages  concealed  in  the  shadow 
of  the  alder  and  poplar  trees,  we  cannot  mistake 
the  favorite  scene  of  the  painter  and  poet  of  the 
night,  Van  der  Neer.  We  now  come  to  the  seashore, 
where  a  sheet  of  water,  calm  and  transparent,  ex- 
tends as  far  as  eye  can  reach ;  on  it  are  vessels, 
possibly  the  dark  fleet  of  the  North  Sea,  tormenting 
some  ship  in  distress — this  is  William  Van  de  Velde. 
A  river  flowing  on  towards  the  horizon,  reflecting 
the  monotonous  color  of  a  dull,  grey,  misty  sky, 
recalls  Van  Goyen.  A  frozen  canal,  become  for  the 
time  the  highroad,  and  covered  with  passers-by  on 
their  skates,  reminds  us  of  Isaac  Van  Ostade. 

I  have  only  spoken  of  what  a  traveller  must  see 
at  every  step — sky,  earth,  and  water — and  have  only 
gone  through  landscape  and  marine  painters.  But 
truth  is  no  less  striking  or  true,  when  the  subject  is 
the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  and  man  is  as  well 
rendered  by  the  Dutch  artist  as  animals  and  plants. 
Doubtless,  owing  to  the  caprices  of  fashion — which 
renews  almost  every  year  our  visible  exteriors,  leav- 
ing only  complete  identity  to  animals  and  things — I 
shall  not  be  able  to  find  in  the  streets  of  Antwerp 
the  Night  Watch  of  Rembrandt ;  the  Banquet  of 
Van  der  Heist  in  the  town  hall ;  the  long  satin  robes 
of  Terburg ;  the  plumed  gentlemen  of  Wouvermans ; 
or  the  drunken  peasants  of  Adrian  Van  Ostade. 
But  yet,  if  in  passing  through  a  city  we  see  a  young 


184  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

girl  leaning  with  an  air  of  curiosity  over  the  old 
balustrades  of  a  window  surrounded  with  ivy  and 
geraniums,  we  may  still  recognize  Gerard  Dow.  In 
the  peaceful  interior  of  a  Gothic  house,  where  an 
old  woman  is  spinning,  and  which  is  lighted  up  by 
the  warm  rays  of  the  sun,  beheld,  perhaps,  by  the 
painter  in  Borneo,  we  see  Peter  de  Hoogh.  The 
canal  bordered  with  trees,  in  a  clean  town,  ever 
wearing  a  holiday  appearance,  where  every  stone  in 
the  streets  may  be  counted,  every  tile  on  the  roofs, 
and  every  brick  in  the  walls,  reminds  us  of  Van  der 
Hey  den ;  and  the  vegetable  market  at  Amsterdam 
still  testifies  to  the  fidelity  of  Metzu. 

It  is  very  evident,  then,  that  we  have  come  into 
the  kingdom  of  naturalism,  after  having  quitted  the 
domains  of  spiritualism  in  Italy.  We  have  come  to 
Protestant  art,  the  art  of  the  people,  after  having 
left  that  of  the  temples  and  palaces.  It  has  been 
said  that  the  artists  of  the  North  resembled  the 
rejected  suitors  of  Penelope — being  unable  to  obtain 
the  mistress,  they  contented  themselves  with  her 
attendants.  But  it  cannot  certainly  be  said  that  in 
this  school  we  find  nothing  but  a  brutal  material 
realism,  only  touching  the  surface  and  exterior  ol 
things,  and  never  penetrating  to  the  soul  or  inner 
sentiment.  This  would,  indeed,  be  a  serious  error. 
Just  as  in  Italy  the  subtlest,  most  mystical  of  the 
spiritualists  have  been  able  to  clothe  their  ideas 
with  an  apparent  body  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  express 
them  by  clear,  exact,  and  precise  forms,  and  to 
embellish  them  with  all  the  charms  of  painting :  so 
in  Holland,  the  decided  realists,  the  simple  imitators 


DUTCH  SCHOOL.  185 

of  truth,  have  brought  into  the  humble  subjects  of 
their  compositions  so  much  taste,  sentiment  and 
poetry  that  they  have  raised  them  to  a  level  with 
the  works  of  high  art.  "An  artist,"  wrote  Paul 
Delaroche,  "  must  compel  nature  to  pass  through 
his  intellect  and  his  heart."  This  is  what  the  Dutch 
have  done.  Besides  this,  the  perfection  alone  of  the 
work  would  be  sufficient  to  move  the  soul,  even  if  it 
were  only  by  admiration.  A  dead  tree  by  Kuysdael 
may  touch  the  heart ;  a  cow  by  Paul  Potter  may 
speak  eloquently ;  a  kitchen  by  Kalf  may  contain 
a  poem.  When  Pascal  said  :  "  How  vain  is  paint- 
ing, which  excites  our  admiration  for  the  likeness  of 
things  the  original  of  which  we  do  not  admire ! " 
he  was,  perhaps,  a  philosopher,  and  especially  a 
Christian  ;  but  he  was  not  an  artist.  In  short,  the 
Dutch  painters  have  thrown  themselves  as  entirely 
into  their  small  paintings  as  the  Italian  painters 
into  their  enormous  sheets  of  canvas,  and  they  de- 
serve no  less  the  saying  of  Bacon  :  Ars  est  homo 
additus  naturce. 

We  now  come  to  the  question,  how  it  was  that 
this  realistic  and  pantheistic  Dutch  school  came  to 
be  formed  ?  I  shall  here  make  use  of  the  words  of 
a  writer  who  thinks  as  I  do,  but  who  will  express  his 
opinion  far  better.  Quoting  from  another  writer, 
besides,  has  the  double  advantage  of  giving  the  pas- 
sage quoted  greater  weight,  as  containing  both  the 
opinion  of  the  author  cited  and  of  him  who  makes 
the  quotation  : — 

"  The  same  religious  revolution  which  created  a 
political  Holland,"  says  M.  Edg.  Quinet  (in  Marnix 


186  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

de  Sainte  Aldegonde)  "  created  also  Dutch  art.  After 
the  Reformation  the  scenes  from  the  Bible  were  no 
longer  seen  through  the  accumulated  traditions  of 
the  Church  ;  .  .  .  there  were  only  the  scanty  remains 
of  the  ancient  worship,  without  pomp  and  without 
festivals ;  Christianity  interpreted,  not  by  the  doc- 
tors or  the  fathers,  but  by  the  people,  .  .  .  who  ex- 
aggerated the  simplicity  of  the  Scriptures  to  trivial- 
ity. This  describes  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  also  the  Dutch  school  of  painting. 
How  is  it  that,  until  now,  the  biographers  of  Rem- 
brandt and  his  interpreters  have  forgotten  this,  his 
character  of  reformer?*  His  Bible  is  the  icono- 
clastic Bible  of  the  Marnix ;  his  apostles  are  beggars; 
his  Christ  is  the  Christ  of  the  Beggars. t 

"  As  for  the  magic  of  coloring  under  a  leaden  sky, 
such  a  contradiction  between  nature  and  art  is 
unique  in  the  world.  How  is  it  that  we  at  one  time 
find  the  ascetic  color  of  Lucas  of  Leyden,  and  then 
suddenly  come  upon  the  astonishing  brilliancy  of 
Rembrandt  ?J  These  contradictions  can  only  be 

*  This  feature  has  been  forgotten  neither  by  M.  Ch.  Blanc,  in 
his  Histoire  des  Peinlres,  nor  by  myself.  (See,  amongst  others, 
page  237  in  the  Musees  d1  Allemagne .) 

t  To  the  explanation  given  by  M.  Quinet  of  the  Dutch  historical 
painter,  I  shall  only  add  a  word  to  explain  also  the  Dutch  landscape 
painter.  Catholicism,  by  its  exaggerated  abnegation  of  the  things 
of  this  life,  and  its  exclusive  tendency  towards  celestial  things, 
had  separated  man  in  some  degree  from  the  earth  and  from 
nature.  Protestantism,  first  after  the  Renaissance  and  the  return 
to  the  love  of  antiquity,  and  afterwards  through  pantheistic  ideas, 
brought  back  a  love  for  Mother  Nature. 

}  Besides  the  following  reasons,  M.  Quinet  might  also  have 
remarked  that  between  Lucas  of  Leyden  and  Rembrandt  came 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  187 

accounted  for  by  the  circumstances  of  the  national 
life.  Holland  has  a  double  existence,  at  once  Euro- 
pean and  Oriental ;  it  lives  principally  through  the 
Indies,  and  its  colonies  at  the  extremity  of  Asia. 
These  colonies,  conquered  in  another  hemisphere, 
were  the  distant  focus  at  which  the  flame  of  Dutch 
painting  was  kindled  as  with  a  burning-glass.  .  .  . 
The  sky  of  the  Maldives  is  reflected  in  humble 
Flemish  dwellings.  .  .  .  Java  dazzles  Amsterdam. 
.  .  .  From  this  arises  the  fantastic  and  really  mag- 
ical effect  of  this  light  which  no  eye  has  seen,  and 
which  was  not  produced  by  nature.  This  brilliant 
coloring  appears  without  cause,  the  cause  being  so 
remote.  .  .  .  The  Batavian  painters  had  not  them- 
selves visited  the  land  of  light ;  but  they  saw  every 
day  vessels,  sailors,  and  natives  from  its  shores  ;  they 
handled  the  productions,  the  draperies,  the  costumes 
brought  from  its  shore,  and  all  of  which  retained  a 
ray  from  the  distant  sky.  The  poor,  cold,  melan- 
choly nature  of  the  North  became  amorous  of  this 
half-seen  sun.  ...  I  should  define  Dutch  paint- 
ing as  an  aspiration  towards  light  from  the  depth 
of  eternal  shadow." 

The  first  painters,  born  in  the  north  of  the  Low 
Countries,  were  at  first  merely  Flemings.  The  old 
GERARD  OF  HAARLEM  (about  1400)  differs  little  from 
the  old  masters  of  Cologne,  Wilhelm  and  Stephen  ; 
LUCAS  DAMMEZ  VAN  LEYDEN  (1494-1533),  who  was 
a  master  at  ten  years  of  age,  at  twelve  was  quoted 


Rubens  with  the  Aiitwerp  school,  and  that  the  Meuse  is  not  very 
far  distant  from  the  Escaut. 


188  WONDERS    OF  PAINTING. 

as  a  prodigy,  and  who  was  a  famous  engraver  as 
well  as  a  great  painter,  was  a  pupil  of  Jan  of  Bruges, 
through  his  master  Cornelius  Engelbrechtstein ; 
MARTIN  VAN  VEEN,  of  Hemskerk  (1498-1541),  and 
CORNELIS  VAN  HAARLEM  (1562-1638),  went  to  Italy, 
like  Mabuse  and  Van  Orley,  to  become  disciples — 
the  one  of  Raphael,  the  other  of  Michael  Angelo. 
CORNELIS  POELEMBERG  (1586-about  1660),  who  had 
studied  in  the  effeminate  school  of  Carlo  Dolci,  doing 
for  anecdotal  style  what  his  predecessors  had  done 
for  high  historical  art,  introduced  the  taste  and  style 
of  the  Italians  into  the  simplicity  of  the  Flemings ; 
lastly,  GERARD  HONTHORST  (1592-1662),  whom  the 
Italians  named  Glierardo  delle  Notti,  who,  consider- 
ing doubtless  the  light  of  the  sun  trivial  and  com- 
monplace, scarcely  ever  lighted  his  pictures  by  any- 
thing but  lamps  and  candles,  and  thus  made  for 
himself  a  specialty  in  art.  It  was  during  the  war 
of  independence,  after  the  confederation  of  the 
"  Beggars,"  after  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  when  the 
seven  United  Provinces  had  escaped  from  the  Span- 
ish yoke  and  from  Catholicism,  that  Dutch  art 
sprang  up,  at  the  same  as  Holland  itself.  The 
author  of  the  Lettre  sur  la  Curiosite  says  :  "  It  was 
the  period  of  success  in  everything.  After  having 
at  once  rescued  its  soil  from  the  sea,  and  its  faith 
from  the  inquisition,  it  had,  with  no  other  force  but 
perseverance,  triumphed  over  all  its  despots,  given  a 
liberator  to  England,  and  humiliated  the  most  insen- 
sate pride  that  ever  swelled  the  breast  of  a  king. 
Holland  then  opened  an  asylum  to  the  boldest 
thinkers,  a  study  for  all  the  investigations  of  science, 


DUTCH  SCHOOL.  189 

and  founded  a  national  school  of  painting  ;  a  rare 
honor  which  belongs  only  to  this  little  kingdom  and 
to  Italy  of  glorious  memory." 

An  astonishing  sight  was  then  seen,  even  more 
astonishing  than  Italy  in  its  golden  age.  This  little 
country,  stolen  from  the  ocean,  this  country  of 
herdsmen,  gave  to  the  world — and  at  one  time — an 
incredible  number  of  great  artists.  Between  the 
birth  of  Franz  Hals  (1584)  and  that  of  Jan  Huysunx 
(1682),  there  is  not  even  the  interval  of  a  century.. 
And  yet  it  was  during  this  time  that  all  the  cele- 
brated painters  of  the  Dutch  school  were  born  and 
flourished.  In  less  than  fifty  years,  there  appear — 
around  and  immediately  following  the  immortal  son 
of  the  Leyden  miller,  Rembrandt  Van  Eyn — Gerard 
Honthorst,  Jan  David  de  Heem,  Keyser,  Albert 
Cuyp,  Adrian  Brauwer,  Gerard  Terburg,  Wynants, 
Philip  Koningh,  the  two  Ostades,  the  two  Boths, 
Van  der  Heist,  Gerard  Dow,  Metzu,  the  two  Ruys- 
daels,  the  two  Van  der  Neers,  the  two  Wouvermans, 
the  two  Weenix,  Fyt,  Pynacker,  Berghein,  Paul 
Potter,  Backhuysen,  Bol,  Maas,  Moucheron,  the 
two  Van  de  Veldes,  the  two  Mieris,  Peter  de  Hoogh, 
Hobbema,  Karel  Dujardin,  Hondekoeter,  Jan  Steen, 
Netscher,  Schalken,  Van  der  Heyden,  etc.  This 
new  school  shows  itself  already  firm  in  the  free  and 
vigorous  portraits  of  FKANZ  HALS  (1584 — 1666). 
There  is  no  more  submission  to  Italian,  nor  even  to 
Flemish  art.  It  may  be  seen,  even  in  the  Louvre, 
how  different  Franz  Hals  is  from  his  contemporary 
Van  Dyck,  by  the  valuable  portrait  of  Descartes. 
It  was  certainly  not  in  France  that  Hals  could  have 


190  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

painted  the  father  of  modern  philosophy,  for  he 
never  left  Haarlem  during  the  whole  of  his  long  life  ; 
it  was  painted  in  Holland,  when  Descartes,  in  his 
only  too  well  justified  prudence,  went  to  settle  there 
in  1629,  hoping  that  he  might  think  and  write  more 
freely  under  the  stadtholders  than  under  the  kings. 
But  it  is  with  Rembrandt  and  his  numerous  and 
brilliant  train  of  disciples  and  imitators  that  this 
new  unexpected  school  appears  in  all  the  splendor 
of  its  noon,  which  had  had  no  dawn,  and  whose 
evening  closed  in  a  profound  night. 

REMBRANDT  VAN  RYN  (1606  or  1608-1669),  the 
greatest  glory  of  Holland,  is  as  great  at  Amsterdam 
as  Raphael  at  Rome,  Rubens  at  Antwerp,  and  Ve- 
lazquez at  Madrid.  And  yet  this  child  of  the  Rhine, 
the  son  of  a  miller,  was  all  his  life  illiterate,  like 
Claude  Lorraine,  and  also  taught  himself  painting, 
almost  without  a  master,  for  he  was  dissatisfied 
with  all  those  of  whom  he  learned.  If  he  abandoned 
the  traditions  of  religion,  the  deep  meaning  lent  to 
them,  the  poetry  of  the  mind,  the  respect  for  anti- 
quity, the  worship  of  the  beautiful ;  yet  he  made  a 
sort  of  supernatural  vision  of  reality  ;  he  discovered 
a  new  poetical  language  as  well  as  a  new  art ;  in  the 
vigorous  reproduction  of  forms  and  perspective  he 
showed  how  profound  thought  might  be  applied  in 
the  happy  combination,  or  the  scientific  contrast,  of 
lights  and  shadows ;  lastly,  changing  the  long-re- 
ceived ideal,  he  discovered  the  beautiful  in  simple 
truth.  Rembrandt  has  proved,  for  instance,  victo- 
riously, that  an  effect — or  rather,  an  accent  of  light 
or  shadow — may  be  more  expressive,  may  touch 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  191 

more  deeply  than  those  contractions  of  features  and 
gestures  which  usually  serve  to  depict  pain.  Rem- 
brandt is  sometimes  reproached  with  exaggerating 
the  opacity  of  his  shadows ;  but  it  is  in  order  to 
bring  out  the  lights  in  these  shadows.  Rembrandt 
is  a  magician,  and  light  is  his  magic.  He  has 
understood  and  proved,  according  to  the  just  obser- 
vation of  M.  Emilie  Montegut,  that  under  a  cloudy, 
misty  sky,  more  than  under  the  rays  of  a  burning 
sun,  colors  preserve  their  power  and  their  relative 
value.  M.  Paul  Delaroche  was  quite  right  in  saying, 
"  Notwithstanding  his  immense  defects,  Rembrandt 
is  perhaps  the  first  painter  in  the  world."  I  should 
leave  the  "defects,"  but  should  omit  the  "per- 
haps."* 

To  see  Rembrandt  at  his  greatest  height,  the 
incontestable  and  legitimate  king  of  the  Protestant 
school,  we  must  seek  him  in  his  own  country.  It 
might  almost  be  said  that  he  divided  his  works 
equally  between  the  Hague  and  Amsterdam,  exactly 
as  his  two  styles  were  equally  used  in  both  halves  of 
his  artist's  life.  Amsterdam,  where  he  only  settled 
when  about  40  years  of  age,  and  where  he  after- 


*  Without  going  more  into  details,  we  will  merely  remind  our 
readers  that  Rembrandt  was  also  the  greatest  etcher  ;  that, 
without  having  any  other  tints  than  the  black  and  white  of  the 
paper  and  ink,  or  any  other  brush  than  the  steel  point,  he  is  still, 
even  on  the  steel  plate,  the  greatest  of  colorists.  Many  other 
Dutch  painters  have  imitated  him  in  the  practice  of  this  double 
talent  ;  such  as  Adrian  Van  Ostade,  Nicholas  Berghem,  Karel  Du- 
jardin,  Jan  Both,  Jacob  Euysdael,  Paul  Potter,  etc.  (See  the 
Merveilles  de  la  Gravure,  by  M.  G.  Duplessis. ) 


192  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

wards  remained  until  his  death,  seems  to  have 
inherited  solely  his  pictures  in  his  second  style,  the 
widest,  the  most  daring,  the  most  scientific,  that 
which  may  be  termed  his  parti  pris.  It  is  at  the 
Hague,  on  the  contrary,  where  he  established  his 
studio  and  school  on  first  quitting  the  mill  of  Ley- 
dendorp  (about  1630),  that  the  son  of  the  miller 
Herman  Gerritszoon,  has  left  the  best  works  of  his 
first  style — the  more  timid  but  also  the  more  studied 
and  delicate.  So  that,  seeing  him  first  at  the 
Hague,  and  afterwards  at  Amsterdam,  we  follow 
Eembrandt  in  the  real  order  of  his  works,  and  as  he 
himself  understood  and  arranged  them.* 

His  history  might  be  read  entirely  in  the  two 
towns  in  which  he  lived  successively.  So  we  will 
commence  at  the  Hague.  Passing  by  the  portrait 


*  In  speaking  thus  of  the  different  styles  of  Kembrandt  I  con- 
form to  general  opinion,  but,  I  confess,  without  sharing  it.  It 
appears  to  me  rather,  that  Rembrandt  possessed  different  modes 
of  painting,  which  he  was  able  to  use  intelligently  according  to 
the  occasion  ;  not  exactly  that  he  had  different  manners,  but,  like 
Murillo,  for  instance,  that  he  had  different  styles,  according  to 
the  requirements  of  the  subjects  he  had  to  treat.  A  face  of  an 
old  man,  which  he  painted  when  under  30  years  of  age,  displays 
already  all  the  deep  layers  of  color,  all  the  violent  and  rugged 
forms  of  what  is  called  his  advanced  style  ;  whilst  a  woman's  face, 
painted  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  retains  all  the  fluidity  of 
pencil  and  delicacy  of  detail  suitable  to  youth  and  beauty.  Let 
any  one  look  attentively  at  the  celebrated  composition  named  the 
Mght  Watch,  of  which  we  are  about  to  speak  ;  it  will  be  recog- 
nized that  in  the  same  frame,  but  according  to  the  difference  of 
sexes,  ages,  and  conditions,  he  has  united  all  the  different  man- 
ners of  painting  which  he  employed  during  his  life,  using  them 
by  a  suitable  application  in  his  works  on  all  subjects. 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  103 

of  a  man  called  the  Officer,  on  account  of  his  high 
military  collar,  and  which  might  well  be  a  portrait  of 
Rembrandt  himself  at  the  time  when  his  moustache 
was  growing  (it  would  be,  in  this  case,  the  first  of 
the  long  series  of  portraits  which  Rembrandt  painted 
of  himself  every  year  of  his  life,  from  youth  to  old 
age).  Passing  over  also  a  Susannah,  dated  1633, 
the  drawing  of  which  is  wanting  in  grandeur,  but  of 
which  the  coloring  is  already  wonderful,  and  also  a 
Presentation  in  the  Temple,  dated  1631,  which  is  per- 
haps the  first  authentic  painting  by  this  master, 
then  23  or  25  years  old,  we  will  come  at  once  to  the 
incomparable  masterpiece  of  this  portion  of  his  life, 
the  Lesson  in  Anatomy.  This  is  the  dissection  of  a 
corpse  by  a  celebrated  surgeon  of  the  time,  the  pro- 
fessor Tulp,  before  seven  other  doctors.  This  sub- 
ject is  too  well  known  by  copies,  engravings,  and 
numberless  descriptions,  including  that  of  Reynolds, 
to  require  another  explanation.  We  will  merely  say, 
then,  that  this  subject,  requiring  no  invention  but 
that  of  arrangement,  and  there  being  nothing  ideal 
in  it,  suited  wonderfully  the  realistic  genius  of  the 
painter  of  the  Beggars.  Rembrandt  rises  in  it  to  all 
the  distinction  he  is  capable  of,  for  around  this  in- 
animate body  all  the  living  personages  have  the  cer- 
tain elevation  of  demeanor  and  expression  always 
imparted  by  careful  and  investigating  science.  As 
for  the  execution,  it  is  needless  to  praise  it,  or  to 
say  that  the  gift  of  life  seems  bestowed  on  this  mar- 
vellous picture.  The  Lesson  in  Anatomy  is  univer- 
sally considered  the  most  excellent  work  of  the  mas- 
ter before  the  period  when,  to  excuse  the  hasty  fire 


194  WONDERS    OF  PAINTING. 

of  some  of  his  later  works,  he  said  that  painting  should 
not  le  swelled.  "  This,"  says  M.  Maxim e  du  Camp, 
"  is  a  European  picture  of  world- wide  renown,  which 
will  remain  in  traditions  even  after  it  is  destroyed, 
for  it  is  one  of  those  few  things  done  by  men  which 
is  perfectly  beautiful."  I  will  only  add,  that  if  any 
fault  can  be  found  with  it,  it  is  that  of  being  fault- 
less. This  is  why,  for  an  original  creative  genius 
like  Eembrandt,  this  picture  is  inferior  to  the  Night 
Watch. 

This  brings  us  to  the  Museum  of  Amsterdam,  the 
town  where  Eembrandt  died,  in  a  small  house,  still 
to  be  seen  at  the  entrance  to  the  Jews'  quarter,  and 
where  a  statue  has  lately  been  raised  to  him  in  one 
of  the  squares.  It  was  right  that  Amsterdam  should 
possess  the  greatest  work  of  the  greatest  of  Dutch 
painters,  who  was  a  poet  also,  merely  through  his 
use  of  expression,  movement,  and  light.  This 
famous  picture,  which  contains  twenty -three  persons 
of  life-size,  represents  a  platoon  of  the  civic  guard — 
officers,  soldiers,  standard-bearer,  and  drummer — 
patrolling  the  streets  of  Amsterdam.  It  is  called 
the  Night  Watch,  though  this  name  is  not  correct, 
as  the  scene  is  in  daylight.  But  the  name  and  po- 
pular error  arise  from  the  luminous  and  transparent 
tints,  the  great  effects  of  light  and  shade,  which 
seem  produced  by  an  artificial  light  rather  than  by 
the  sun.  "  To  tell  the  truth,  this  is  only  a  dream  of 
night,  and  no  one  can  decide  what  the  light  is  that 
falls  on  the  groups  of  figures.  It  is  neither  the 
light  of  the  sun  nor  of  the  moon  ;  nor  does  it  come 
from  torches  ;  it  is  rather  the  light  from  the  genius 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  197 

of  Rembrandt"  (Ch.  Blanc).  The  Night  Watch  (we 
must  not  change  the  time-honored  name)  is  superior 
to  any  other  of  Rembrandt's  works,  from  the  impor- 
tance of  the  subject,  and  the  number  of  the  per- 
sonages in  it ;  also,  and  especially,  because  the  sub- 
ject requiring  only  the  true,  without  grandeur, 
beauty  or  ideality — the  high  qualities  which  were 
wanting  in  Rembrandt — our  admiration  is  not  trou- 
bled by  regret,  and  we  see  with  delight  the  triumph 
of  painting  in  the  pure  and  simple  reproduction  of 
the  real. 

We  must  consider  Rembrandt  as  we  did  the  other 
great  realist,  the  Spaniard  Velazquez.  We  must 
look  at  his  pictures  for  a  long  time,  and  choose  ex- 
actly the  right  position,  to  appreciate  at  once  the 
whole  and  the  details.  Then  it  produces  a  singular 
illusion,  and  appears  a  veritable  apparition.  All  the 
persons  start  into  life  ;  we  appear  to  see  and  hear 
them.  We  might  exclaim  like  Luca  Giordano  be- 
fore Las  Meninas  of  Velazquez  :  "  This  is  the  theo- 
logy of  painting  !"  It  is  indeed  with  Velazquez,  and 
also  with  Giorgione  and  Titian,  that  Rembrandt  may 
be  compared  in  his  wonderful  originality,  though  es- 
pecially with  the  great  Flemish  colorist,  Rubens. 
"  In  no  school,"  says  Thore,  "  are  there  two  painters 
more  different  from  each  other  than  Rembrandt  and 
Rubens.  They  are  exact  opposites  ;  one  is  concen- 
trated, the  other  diffuse ;  the  one  seeks  a  character- 
istic simplicity,  the  other  an  ambitious  sumptuous- 
ness  ;  the  one  husbands  his  effects,  the  other  lav- 
ishes them  everywhere  ;  one  is  all  within,  the  other 
all  outside  ;  the  one  is  mysterious,  profound,  incom- 


198  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

preliensible,  the  other  expansive,  attracting,  irresisti- 
ble ;  before  Eembrandt  we  are  forced  to  reflect, 
before  Eubens  we  are  carried  away." 

This  civic  guard,  such  as  Kembrandt  likes  to  show 
it  to  us,  resembles  no  troop  of  to-day,  no  order,  no 
uniform,  the  most  complete  liberty  of  action  and 
equipment ;  a  strange  mixture  of  people,  attitudes, 
costumes,  arms,  arqueuuses  and  halberds,  helmets 
and  hats,  cuirasses  and  doublets.  Nothing  can  be 
more  picturesque,  and  "  a  beautiful  disorder  is  often 
an  effect  of  art."  Several  defects,  however,  are  visi- 
ble to  the  least  clear-sighted.  The  lady  who  carries 
a  fowl  hung  at  her  waist  (is  this  a  prize  brought  for 
the  most  successful  in  shooting,  or  is  it  an  allegory 
to  show  the  security  of  the  transactions  carried  on 
under  the  protection  of  this  primitive  national 
guard  ?)  is  certainly  too  small.  In  height  she  is 
only  a  girl  of  twelve.  And  no  one  knows  what  is 
meant  by  the  kind  of  Thersites  who  is  running  rnad- 
ly  along  in  the  shadow.  But  what  does  it  matter  ? 
The  handsome  officer  in  black  velvet  with  the  red 
scarf,  his  companion  in  yellow  satin  balancing  a 
halberd,  the  standard  bearer,  and,  in  short,  all  these 
frank,  martial  countenances,  present  none  the  less 
the  true  type  of  the  popular  heroes  who  saved  Hol- 
land from  Catholic  Spain.  They  stand  before  us, 
they  act  and  live  under  the  strange  rays  of  the  light 
created  by  Rembrandt.  It  is  enough  that  they  live. 
This  Night  Watch  expresses  the  effervescence  of 
patriotism,  the  happiness  of  independence  that  had 
long  been  fought  for.  "  It  is,"  says  M.  Montegut, 
"  liberty  in  her  golden  age.  ...  It  will  preserve  the 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  199 

remembrance  of  Dutch  liberty,  perhaps  even  beyond 
the  existence  of  Holland." 

Another  picture  of  Eembrandt,  the  Staalmcisters, 
or  the  trustees  of  the  Staalhof — the  Clothweavers' 
Hall — although  only  a  simple  collection  of  portraits, 
shares  the  renown  of  the  Night  Watch.  This  pic- 
ture has  not  received,  at  any  rate  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, any  short  and  consecrated  name,  and  on  this 
account  it  is  less  quoted  than  the  preceding  one. 
But  many  artists  and  connoisseurs  prefer  it,  and 
place  it  higher  than  the  others.  They  say  that  the 
same  qualities  may  be  seen  in  it  with  fewer  defects ; 
there  is  a  riper  perfection — more  sure  of  itself  and 
more  complete.  All  these  good  cloth  merchants  are 
looking  in  the  same  direction,  as  if  some  one  had 
just  interrupted  the  reading  they  had  commenced  of 
a  register  of  the  corporation.  This  uniform  and 
natural  movement  animates  the  composition,  and 
seems  to  make  it  more  completely  one.  It  is  not 
six  portraits  that  we  see,  but  six  living  men  whom 
the  magician,  by  his  powerful  wand,  has  fixed  to  the 
canvas. 

They  give  us  an  opportunity  of  fully  appreciating 
Kembrandt  as  a  portrait  painter.  I  have  long 
thought  and  even  written  that  Eembrandt,  not  ac- 
cepting nature  alone  in  its  most  ordinary  and  faith- 
ful aspects,  like  Holbein  and  Velazquez,  but  bend- 
ing it  to  suit  certain  optical  combinations,  and  thus 
composing  portraits,  took  them  out  of  the  true  con- 
ditions of  portrait  painting  ;  so  that,  although  he 
must  always  be  mentioned  amongst  the  greatest 
painters  of  the  world,  he  might  not  be  placed 


200  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

amongst  the  greatest  portrait  painters.  But  if  it  be 
true  that  "  he  is  an  absurd  man  who  never  changes 
his  opinions,"  I  do  not  deserve  the  appellation,  for 
I  have  completely  changed  my  opinion.  By  degrees 
the  conviction  has  forced  itself  upon  me  that  Rem- 
brandt  is  surpassed  by  none  in  portrait  painting. 
His  usual  combinations  of  light  and  shade  do  not 
merely  serve  for  picturesque  effect,  but  still  more 
do  they  so  light  up  the  personages  that  we  seem  to 
see  into  their  minds — moral  resemblance  is  added 
to  the  physical,  and  under  his  pencil  they  seem  to 
live  again.  It  may  be  said  of  Rembrandt's  portraits 
what  the  Romans  said  of  a  fine  Ionic  statue  :  Tacet 
sed  loquitur. 

Let  us  now  seek  throughout  Europe  the  greatest 
works  of  Eembrandt  which  have  not  been  preserved 
in  his  own  country. 

In  Italy  there  are  only  a  few  portraits  dispersed 
in  Florence,  Naples,  and  Turin.  In  the  rich  mu- 
seum of  Spain  there  is  only  one  portrait  of  a  lady, 
the  date  of  which  shows  it  to  be  one  of  his  earliest 
works,  and  is  in  the  fine  and  delicate  treatment 
most  suited  to  represent  the  fresh  beauty  of  early 
life.  Neither  can  Kembrandt  be  seen  to  advantage 
in  France.  Of  the  eight  paintings  by  his  hand  there 
are  only  three  (amongst  others,  one  of  the  four 
where  he  has  painted  himself)  which  deserve  a 
high  place  among  his  works.  Although  I  confess 
that  the  Angel  Raphael  leaving  the  family  of  Tobit 
is  wonderful  for  the  way  in  which  he  is  moving  in 
the  air  in  the  midst  of  a  luminous  atmosphere  which 
descends  from  the  half-opened  sky ;  that  the  Disci* 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  201 

pies  going  to  Emmaus,  another  miracle  of  coloring,  is 
remarkable  for  its  grandeur  and  relative  beauty ; 
that  the  Good  Samaritan,  although  less  finished  and 
more  defective  in  treatment,  shows  the  happy  em- 
ployment of  light  and  shade  ;  can  any  one  pretend 
that  these  second-rate  compositions  equal  any  of  his 
masterpieces  to  be  found  elsewhere  !  Most  assured- 
ly any  lover  of  art  who  has  seen  any  of  the  others 
in  his  travels  will  share  my  regrets  that  the  Louvre 
has  been  unable  to  acquire  one  of  the  greatest  works 
of  Eembrandt. 

In  one  respect,  however,  the  richest  collections 
may  envy  the  Louvre.  There  are  some  very  small 
pictures,  almost  miniatures  in  oil,  in  which  Eem- 
brandt rises  to  the  greatest  height.  The  small  fig- 
ures, of  three  or  four  inches  high,  called  the  Philo- 
sophers in  Meditation,  and  still  more  the  House  of  an 
old  Carpenter  (which  Eembrandt  probably  termed  a 
Holy  Family)  are,  in  their  humble  proportions,  the 
triumph  of  the  school  he  founded,  which  is  not 
merely  art,  but  the  poetry  of  naturalism. 

Two  analogous  pictures  are  in  the  National  Gal- 
lery. Although  also  very  small,  the  Woman  taken  in 
Adultery,  and  the  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds,  must 
take  the  name  and  rank  of  historical  pictures.  Su- 
perb, both  in  arrangement  and  execution,  they  may 
defy  any  comparison.  The  finest  of  Eembrandt's 
portraits  in  England  are  in  private  collections,  es- 
pecially at  Buckingham  Palace  and  Grosvenor 
House.  Germany  and  Eussia  are  almost  as  rich  as 
Holland.  Various  other  historical  pictures,  also 
of  small  dimensions,  but  as  great  in  arrangement 


202  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

and  touch,  are  collected  at  the  Pinacothek  at  Mu- 
nich ;  a  Crucifixion  in  dark,  stormy  weather ;  an 
Entombment  in  the  obscurity  of  a  deep  vault ;  a  Na- 
tivity, illumined  by  the  pale  rays  of  a  lamp  ;  a  Resur- 
rection illuminated  by  a  single  ray  of  light  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night;  an  Ascension,  where  Christ 
lights  up  the  whole  scene  with  the  brilliancy  eman- 
ating from  himself ;  lastly,  a  Descent  from  the  Cross, 
which  is  known  everywhere  by  the  celebrated  etch- 
ing Kembrandt  himself  made  of  it.  This  picture, 
which  does  not  occupy  one  square  yard,  reminds  us 
in  its  general  arrangements  of  the  works  on  the 
same  subject  by  Eaphael,  Titian,  Volterra,  Carracci, 
Eibera,  Lucas  of  Leyden,  and  Eubens.  Here,  also, 
we  see  the  body  of  Christ  taken  down  from  the 
Cross  by  the  servants  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  the 
Virgin  fainting  in  the  arms  of  Mary  Magdalen  and 
John.  But  this  is  only  in  name.  Without  the 
Cross  to  explain  the  subject,  how  could  we  have 
recognized  the  Christ,  his  mother,  his  loved  disciple, 
or  any  of  the  actors  in  the  gospel  drama,  in  these 
coarse  and  heavy  personages  dressed  in  the  Walloon 
costume,  with  grotesque  countenances,  flat  noses, 
small  round  eyes,  and  large  mouths,  where  the 
painter  seems  to  have  taken  his  own  portrait  as  the 
type  of  human  beauty?  At  the  first  glance  at  this 
picture  we  should  be  inclined  to  ascribe  it  to  irony, 
if  we  were  not  too  deeply  moved  by  the  truth  of  the 
attitudes,  gestures,  and  expression,  and  so  much  en- 
chanted with  the  magnificence  of  the  coloring  and 
dazzled  by  the  brilliancy  of  the  light  that  no  senti- 
ment can  long  remain  but  that  of  admiration 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  203 

Looked  at  from  the  artist's  own  point  of  view,  this 
Descent  from  the  Cross  is  a  real  prodigy. 

There  is  another  of  precisely  similar  character  in 
the  gallery  of  Prince  Esterhazy,  now  removed  from 
Vienna  to  Pesth.  This  is  the  Ecce  Homo.  The  fig- 
ures are  of  life-size.  Jesus  is  in  the  centre,  almost 
naked,  with  a  girdle  round  his  loins,  as  he  would  be 
on  the  Cross,  a  reed  in  his  hand,  in  mockery  of  a 
sceptre,  and  the  crown  of  thorns  on  his  head.  On 
the  right  Pilate  is  washing  his  hands  of  the  death  of 
the  innocent ;  one  woman  is  pouring  water  for  him 
from  a  golden  jug,  whilst  another  is  holding  the 
ewer.  Pilate  is  dressed  in  a  striped  turban  and  fur 
pelisse,  like  the  rabbis  of  Amsterdam  painted  by 
Rembrandt.  As  for  the  Christ,  it  is  evident  that  the 
painter  simply  chose  a  model  on  whom  he  placed 
the  signs  of  the  Passion.  It  might  almost  be 
thought  that  the  artist  was  one  of  those  whom  St. 
Cyril  recommended  to  represent  our  Lord  as  the  most 
repulsive  in  appearance  of  the  children  of  men ;  or 
rather  that  Rembrandt,  the  reformer,  the  enemy  of 
tradition,  and  catholic  pomp,  and  who  understood  the 
Gospel  not  in  the  Greek  and  pagan  manner  of  the 
Renaissance,  but  in  the  simplicity  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  wished  to  paint  the  Christ  of  the  Beggars. 
And  yet,  with  all  these  commonplace,  almost  ignoble 
beings,  Rembrandt  has  succeeded  by  force  of  ex- 
pression, gesture,  and  sentiment,  and  the  great 
power  of  light  and  shadow,  in  making  a  work  so 
wonderfully  beautiful  that  words  are  wanting  to  con- 
vey any  idea  of  the  brilliancy  with  which  it  is  ra- 
diant, or  to  express  the  emotion  and  admiration  it 


204  WONDEKS   OF  PAINTING. 

excites  in  the  soul.  "  Rembrandt  was  more  thor- 
oughly Dutch  than  Maurice  of  Nassau In 

his  pictures  of  the  Life  of  Christ  he  has  taken  all 
his  types  from  Holland,  and  this  Dutch  Gospel  ap- 
pears more  true,  notwithstanding  the  forms  and  the 
anachronism  of  the  costumes,  than  the  Christ  and 
the  Apostles  borrowed  by  the  Italian  masters  from 
the  traditions  of  ancient  art.  The  Christ  of  Rem- 
brandt, poor  and  suffering,  is  the  Christ  of  humble 
poverty ;  his  rabbis  are  the  doctors  of  the  persecu- 
tion ;  his  Pilate  is  the  cowardly  instrument  of  a 
populace  in  madness  ;  and  this  deep  truth  is  well 
worth  all  the  magnificence  of  Italian  art."*  (Lettre 
sur  la  Curiosite.) 

Vienna  has  preserved  in  its  Belvedere  eight  or  ten 
portraits  by  Rembrandt,  amongst  which  are  one  of 
his  mother,  very  old  and  very  much  adorned,  and 
two  of  .himself  at  different  ages,  first  young  and  ele- 
gant, then  old  and  care-worn.  At  Cassel,  where  the 
rich  gallery,  closed  until  now,  has  lately  been 
thrown  open  by  the  Prussians  when  they  took 
possession  of  the  Electorate,  a  buried  treasure  has 
been  found,  twenty-eight  pictures  by  Rembrandt.  I 
might  choose  for  notice  the  most  important,  called 
the  Blessing  of  Jacob,  which  contains  five  or  six  fig  - 
ures ;  I  prefer,  however,  to  mention  the  most  inter- 

*  Kembrandt  is  almost  the  only  Dutch  painter  who  has  treated 
subjects  from  sacred  history  taken  from  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. He  has  done  it  in  a  manner  more  than  Protestant,  quite 
human,  and  yet  I  find  in  his  pictures  a  fresh  proof  of  the  supe- 
riority of  sacred  subjects,  of  the  supernatural,  in  short,  even  when 
it  is  reduced  to  the  natural 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  205 

esting — that  of  his  first  wife,  Saskia  Uilenburg, 
whom  he  married  in  1534,  but  only  possessed  for 
eight  years,  and  whose  portrait  he  painted  with  as 
much  love  as  Eubens  that  of  his  beautiful  Helena 
Fourment.  In  this  portrait  Saskia  is  still  very 
young  and  very  pretty,  and  it  may  be  seen,  by  the 
ornaments  with  which  she  is  laden,  that  Eembrandt 
wished  to  show  every  one  how  much  he  adored  this 
"  spoiled  child."  Near  her  are  different  friends  of 
the  painter,  the  poet  Croll,  the  burgomaster  Six,  the 
writing  master  Kopenol,  and  Eembrandt  himself, 
now  in  a  very  simple  costume  —  black  cap  and 
brown  cloak. 

Dresden  could  not  fail  to  have  a  large  share  in 
the  works  of  Rembrandt.  But  here,  also,  the  most 
interesting  are  not  historical  compositions.  Doubt- 
less the  large  picture  representing  the  Sacrifice  of 
Manoali  and  Ids  Wife,  to  whom  the  angel  announces 
the  birth  of  Samson,  is  of  strong  coloring  and  grand 
effect ;  but  this  angel  has  too  little  of  the  angelic, 
and  the  \vhole  work  is  too  little  in  accordance  with 
the  sacred  text.  I  prefer  the  Rape  of  Ganymede, 
although  this  picture  has  no  more  of  the  sentiment 
of  mythology  than  the  other  of  the  Bible ;  but  the 
grotesque  is  here  more  allowable.  Instead  of  the 
handsome  youth  loved  by  Jupiter,  we  see  a  fat  boy 
of  six  or  seven  carried  off  in  his  shirt  by  the  eagle, 
struggling  and  screaming.  The  portraits  at  Dres- 
den are  both  more  numerous  and  more  perfect. 
Near  his  old  mother  weighing  golden  pieces  (all 
Kembrandt' s  old  women  are  his  mother)  we  may 
admire  Eembrandt  himself,  his  glass  in  his  hand,  a 


206  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

laugh  on  his  mouth,  embracing  his  young  wife,  who 
is  seated  on  his  knees ;  and  still  more  a  young  girl 
(perhaps  Saskia  herself)  holding  a  pink  in  her  hand ; 
and  two  old  grey-bearded  men,  with  black  caps  on, 
clothed  in  rich  dark  stuffs.  We  shall  find  nothing 
higher  than  these  portraits,  which  are  painted  in 
his  latest  and  most  powerful  manner.  But  over 
them  is  hung  another  work  of  Eembrandt's.  This 
is  a  landscape  of  medium  size,  without  any  object 
that  can  particularly  distinguish  it.  It  would 
scarcely  be  sought  out,  even  as  a  curiosity,  but  that 
landscapes  are  rare  in  the  numerous  works  of  Bem- 
brandt,  and  that  the  catalogue  hazards  the  con- 
jecture— wrongly,  as  it  happens — that  Bembrandt 
was  born  in  a  little  mill  introduced  in  one  part. 
There  is  nothing  else  to  recommend  such  a  picture. 
In  the  distance  we  see  a  white  cloud  resting  on  a 
black  rock,  then  a  black  cloud  over  a  lighter  open- 
ing in  the  mountains  ;  in  the  foreground  a  cart  and 
horses  standing  out  in  dark  profile  ;  everywhere  a 
dark  green,  uniform  country,  as  if  after  rain,  dotted 
here  and  there  with  brick  red,  by  the  roofs  of  a  few 
small  houses  scattered  over  the  plain.  This  is  all. 
There  is  nothing  to  indicate  to  what  country  it  be- 
longs, or  what  hour  of  the  day  is  intended.  And 
yet  I  affirm  unhesitatingly  that  if  a  visitor  throw  one 
glance  on  this  singular  picture  he  will  remain  before 
it  a  long  time.  There  is  something  fascinating,  ir- 
resistible in  it ;  it  draws  one  back  after  having 
quitted  it  again  and  again.  It  is  the  same  effect, 
though  the  cause  is  so  different,  with  the  Madonna 
di  San  Sisto.  It  is  the  victory  of  realism  after  that 


DUTCH  SCHOOL.  207 

of  the  ideal.     Eaphael  and  Eembrandt  have  divided 
art  between  them  into  its  natural  divisions. 

Neither  Amsterdam,  the  Hague,  Munich,  Dres- 
den, nor  Cassel  can  boast  of  possessing  such  a  nu- 
merous collection  of  the  works  of  Eembrandt  as  St. 
Petersburg.  The  Hermitage  contains  forty-three, 
and  in  all  the  manners  cultivated  by  an  artist  no 
less  universal  than  Eubens.  In  landscape  we  find 
a  View  of  Judea,  a  barren  country,  where  Jesus  is 
walking  between  the  disciples  going  to  Emmaus. 
In  marine  pictures — still  more  rare — we  find  a 
Coast  of  Holland,  of  a  warm,  golden  tint,  in  which 
the  sky  and  water  seem  to  melt  into  each  other  in 
the  distant  horizon.  In  portraits  we  find  two  of  his 
mother,  once  as  a  good  old  woman  smiling,  the 
other  as  a  pious  Lutheran  in  meditation  over  her 
Bible;  also  two  of  his  Saskia,  as  usual  adorned  with 
embroidery,  velvet,  and  furs ;  two  or  three  of  the 
rich  Dutch  Jews,  dressed  in  the  Eastern  costumes 
which  are  so  favorable  to  painting.  One  of  these 
bears  the  great  name  of  John  Sobieski,  doubtless 
because  he  had  on  a  sort  of  Polish  cap,  for  how 
could  the  painter  of  Amsterdam,  who  never  quitted 
his  own  country,  have  ever  met  the  hero  of  Vienna, 
who,  during  his  whole  life,  was  occupied  in  the  east 
of  Europe  ?  Another  excellent  portrait  is  believed 
to  be  that  of  the  theologian  Arminius  (Jacob  Her- 
mann). But  this  famous  opponent  to  the  doctrines 
of  Calvin  died  in  1609,  when  Eembrandt  was  only 
just  born.  This  could  have  only  been,  then,  a  study 
or  a  repetition  of  a  former  portrait.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  old  man  Thomas  Parr,  who  died  in 


208  WONDEKS    OF  PAINTING. 

London  in  1634  at  the  age  of  152.  Eembrandt  was 
barely  twenty-five  at  that  time,  and  how  could  he 
have  met  with  the  English  archicentenarian  ? 

In  historical  pictures  there  are  both  sacred  and 
profane.  I  call  those  subjects  sacred  which  the 
Italians  would  say  were  profanated.  A  powerfully- 
executed  Sacrifice  of  Isaac  ;  a  Return  of  the  Prodi- 
gal Son,  in  which  the  figures  are  still  more  fantasti- 
cally accoutred ;  an  Education  of  the  Virgin  by  St. 
Anne — that  is  to  say,  an  old  woman,  with  her  spec- 
tacles in  'her  hand,  teaching  a  young  girl  to  read  ;  a 
Holy  Family — that  is  to  say,  a  carpenter's  family  in 
his  work-room,  where  angels,  under  the  form  of  lu- 
minous bats,  are  floating  in  the  air — absurd  as  a 
composition,  but  a  magnificent  picture  in  the  truth 
and  splendor  of  the  coloring,  etc.  Kembrandt,  who 
treated  biblical  scenes  almost  in  the  same  way  as 
the  interiors  of  ale-houses,  thought  nothing  of  treat- 
ing mythology  in  the  same  way.  Every  one  knows 
the  awkwardness  and  vulgarity  that  distinguish  his 
heroes,  nymphs,  and  goddesses.  There  is  only  one 
specimen  of  his  mythological  works  at  the  Hermit- 
age, but  it  is  the  most  complete  that  could  be  given 
of  his  striking  defects  and  wonderful  merits.  It 
represents  a  Danae,  and  was  for  a  long  time  con- 
cealed from  the  crowd  of  visitors  in  some  recess  of 
the  palace,  not  without  reason,  for  Danae  is  de- 
picted in  the  most  complete  nudity.  It  may  be  de- 
scribed in  two  words — horrible  nature,  incompara- 
ble art.  On  one  hand,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive 
the  passion  of  the  master  of  the  gods  for  a  creature 
so  unattractive,  or  the  painter's  caprice  in  choosing 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  209 

such  a  repulsive  model ;  on  the  other,  there  could 
nowhere  be  found  more  relief,  transparency,  com- 
plete illusion,  and  frightful  reality.  Had  Rembrandt 
only  granted  us  a  little  more  beauty  and  grace  it 
would  have  been  a  perfect  triumph  of  painting. 

In  the  Museum  of  Amsterdam,  opposite  the 
Night  Watch,  the  Banquet  of  the  Civic  Guard,  by 
BARTHOLOMEW  VAN  DEE  HELST  (1612-1670),  has  been 
placed ;  and  rightly  so  too,  for  it  is  like  the  Meyer 
Madonna  by  the  side  of  the  Madonna  di  San  Sisto. 
We  must  always  remember  that  certain  masters 
should  be  seen  in  certain  places,  and  that  it  is  there 
alone  that  they  can  be  fully  appreciated.  This  is 
the  case  with  Van  der  Heist.  Unknown  in  Italy, 
Spain,  France,  England,  or  even  Belgium,  scarcely 
more  known  in  Germany  by  a  few  scattered  por- 
traits in  the  galleries,  he  is  only  to  be  found  in  the 
Museum  of  Amsterdam.  Van  der  Heist  was  merely 
a  portrait  painter.  He  never  attempted  anything 
else,  and  the  separate  portraits  he  has  left  in  this 
museum  may  be  admired  as  superb.  But  by  group- 
ing several  portraits  in  one  frame  he  has  succeeded 
in  making  an  historical  picture.  Thus  the  Chiefs  of 
the  Archery  Guild,  of  which  there  is  a  reduced  copy 
at  the  Louvre,  which  cannot  give  a  sufficient  idea  of 
the  marvellous  orignal ;  and  also  the  Banquet  of  the 
Civic  Guard  of  Amsterdam.  This  banquet  was  mem- 
orable, because  in  it  w^as  celebrated  the  famous  treaty 
of  Westphalia,  or  Peace  of  Munster,  which  put  an 
end  to  the  horrible  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  defined 
the  independence  of  the  United  Provinces.  If  this 
subject  be  really  that  of  Van  der  Heist's  picture— 


210  WONDEES  OF  PAINTING. 

and  tradition  is  unanimous  on  this  point — as  the 
Peace  of  Munster  was  signed  in  1648,  the  paintei 
must  have  been  36  years  old  when  he  undertook 
this  vast  and  magnificent  work,  where  the  person- 
ages, to  the  number  of  twenty-five,  are  the  size  of 
life. 

Although  Van  der  Heist  is  wanting  in  the  grand 
science  of  unity ;  although,  while  each  figure  is 
good,  picturesque,  and  even  warm,  the  whole  re- 
mains cold ;  it  may  justly  be  said  of  this  crowd  of 
portraits  collected  in  one  picture  that  they  are  so 
perfect  that  the  social  condition,  character,  and 
temperament  of  each  of  them  may  be  recognized. 
These  twenty-five  excellent  portraits  arranged  with 
infinite  art,  if  they  do  not  form  such  a  wonderful 
scene  as  the  Night  Watch,  because  they  want  that 
created  light  which  illumines  it,  are  simpler  and 
truer  than  the  apparition  of  Eembrandt.  In  this 
Banquet  Van  der  Heist  shows  himself  the  model  of 
this  genre,  which  consists  in  perpetuating  the  mem- 
ory of  an  action  and  its  actors.  He  is  even  a  better 
model  than  Eembrandt  and  Veronese ;  he  is  more 
like  Velazquez  ;  he  has  painted  the  men,  the  things, 
and  the  life  of  his  times.  "  This  painting,"  says  M. 
Edmond  Texier,  "  is  marvellously  appropriate  to  the 
people  it  represents,  being  calm,  dignified,  and 
strong."  And  Sir  Joshua  Eeynolds  had  said  before  : 
"  This  is,  perhaps,  the  finest  portrait  picture  which 
exists." 

Another  Assembly  of  Civic  Guards,  of  the  same 
time  and  in  the  same  museum,  brings  us  to  the  di- 
rect school  of  Eembrandt,  This  is  the  principal 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  211 

work  of  GOVAERT  FLINCK  (1616-1660).  It  is  in  the 
usual  manner  of  the  master  ;  less  strong,  indeed, 
but  also  more  exempt  from  labored  refinement  and  in- 
vention ;  more  exempt,  too,  from  great  effects,  always 
rather  forced,  however  wonderful  they  may  be, 
since  they  may  cause  day  to  be  taken  for  night. 
Whilst  speaking  of  this  deservedly  celebrated  As- 
sembly, we  will  make  one  remark,  namely,  that  the 
pupils  of  Kembrandt — those,  at  least,  who  have  re- 
mained strictly  faithful  to  him — have  only  fully  suc- 
ceeded and  attained  an  excellence  which  makes 
them  approach  in  some  degree  to  their  master  in 
portrait  painting.  Such  are,  besides  Govaert  Flinck, 
FERDINAND  BOL  (1611-1681),  JAN  VICTORS  (1600- 
1670),  FABRICIUS,  PAUDITS,  AAAT  DE  GELDER.  Their 
inferiority  is  partly  concealed,  because  their  manner 
changes,  and  the  comparison  is  no  longer  direct. 
But  when  we  pass  to  historical  composition,  they  all 
become  simple  satellites,  lost  in  the  rays  of  the  cen- 
tral luminary.  In  the  Museum  of  Munich  alone  we 
might  instance  the  Sacrifice  of  Abraham,  by  Ferdi- 
nand Bol ;  the  Tobit  giving  Thanks,  by  Victors  ;  the 
Isaac  blessing  Jacob,  by  Govaert  Flinck.  The  imita- 
tion in  these  is  flagrant,  and,  whatever  merit  may 
attach  to  a  good  imitation,  the  painters  who  do  it 
must  remain  pupils  all  their  lives,  and  can  never  as- 
pire to  the  title  of  master. 

With  and  around  Eembrandt  we  may  see  the 
numerous  constellation  of  the  lesser  Dutch  masters. 
Here  there  can  be  no  longer  chronological  order,  since 
all  were  contemporaries  ;  and  no  longer  order  even  in 
merit  and  celebrity,  for,  in  every  yenre,  several  equal- 


212  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

ly  occupy  the  first  rank.  It  is,  then,  by  the  genres 
that  we  must  guide  ourselves  through  the  mare  mag- 
num of  the  innumerable  easel  pictures  which  they 
have  scattered  over  the  entire  world.  But  we  must 
first  mention  one  of  these  masters  who  cultivated  all 
these  various  genres  with  an  almost  equal  success. 
ALBERT  CUYP  (1605-1672)  has  painted  a  considera- 
ble number  of  portraits,  and  of  tolerably  good  ones, 
too,  but  at  the  same  time  we  may  well  believe  that, 
if  he  had  devoted  himself  entirely  to  this  branch  of 
art,  he  would  never  have  attained  to  more  than  the 
secondary  renown  of  a  Van  Ceulen  or  a  Van  den 
Tempel.  He  has  painted  fruit,  flowers,  dead  game, 
and  inanimate  objects,  without  equalling,  however,  the 
highest  painters  in  this  line.  He  has  painted  scenes 
of  interiors  in  the  manner  of  Van  Ostade  and  Te- 
niers,  such  as  the  Mussel  Eater,  in  the  Museum  of 
Rotterdam.  He  has  painted  interiors  of  buildings, 
in  which  he  is  surpassed  by  no  one,  not  even  by 
Emanuel  de  Witte.  He  has  painted  animals  of  all 
kinds,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  point  him  out, 
not  merely  as  the  predecessor,  but  as  the  model  of 
Paul  Pot-ter.  Lastly,  he  has  painted  animated  land- 
scapes and  marine  pieces,  or  rather  the  banks  of 
rivers,  amongst  which  his  real  masterpieces  are  to 
be  found.  Albert  Cuyp  has,  then,  contended  with 
all  the  masters  of  his  own  time  and  country,  with- 
out any  other  secret  than  the  finding  variety  in  sim- 
plicity, the  unforeseen  in  the  natural,  grandeur  in 
ingenuousness.  But,  except  Eembrandt,  he  sur- 
passed them  all  in  one  point.  He  is  the  greatest 
lover  of  light  of  all  the  Dutch  masters.  It  is  very 


DUTCH  SCHOOL  213 

strange  *hat  Cuyp's  pictures  are  noc  merely  lumin- 
ous under  the  ardent  rays  of  the  sun  at  noon  ;  they 
are  so  also,  and  no  less,  in  the  pale  grey  mist  of  the 
Dutch  rivers.  And  even  during  the  night,  as  is 
proved  by  a  picture  at  Grosvenor  House,  of  the 
Banks  of  a  Lake,  where  several  cows  are  grazing. 
I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  anywhere,  even 
among  the  works  of  Van  der  Neer,  light  carried  to 
such  a  point,  even  in  the  obscurity  of  a  deep  night. 
Cuyp  cannot  be  seen  to  advantage  in  his  own 
country,  where  his  talent  was  not  recognized  until  a 
later  time.  Before  the  Dutch  had  learned  to  ap- 
preciate him,  all  his  finest  works  had  been  taken 
out  of  Holland.  He  is  not  well  represented  either 
in  the  Louvre,  by  the  Departure  and  Return,  al- 
though they  show  something  of  his  warmth  of  col- 
oring and  love  of  light.  The  English,  who  have  re- 
instated Cuyp  so  far  as  to  call  him  the  Dutch 
Claude,  have  obtained  possession  of  his  finest  works. 
One  of  a  Landscape,  with  Cattle  and  Figures,  in  the 
National  Gallery  may  be  placed  in  this  class.  Every- 
thing in  it  is  admirable.  A  rider,  dressed  in  red,  whose 
dapple  grey  horse  is  foreshortened  ;  a  pretty  little 
shepherdess  replying  timidly  to  the  questions  of  the 
traveller,  her  dog  and  sheep,  the  water,  the  earth, 
the  sky,  the  light,  form  a  charming  landscape,  evi- 
dently copied  from  nature,  but  rendered  as  this  art- 
ist alone  knows  how  to  see  and  to  show  it  to  others. 
Others  of  the  masterpieces  of  Cuyp  are  to  be  found 
in  the  cabinets  of  amateurs,  especially  those  of 
Lord  Ellesmere,  Messrs.  Holford,  Ellis,  etc.  In  the 
collection  of  Thomas  Baring,  Esq.,  in  particular, 


214  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

there  is  a  splendid  View  of  the  Meuse,  which  is  infe- 
rior to  nothing  in  this  branch  of  art. 

In  the  same  class  of  painters  I  think  we  must 
also  place  NICHOLAS  BERGHEM  (1624-1683)  and 
KAREL  DUJARDIN  (1635-1678).  Both  completed  in 
Italy  the  studies  commenced  in  Holland,  which 
caused  them  to  introduce  the  new  element  of 
southern  scenery  into  the  subjects  treated  by  their  fel- 
low countrymen.  But  who  would  ever  have  believed 
Berghem  to  have  been  the  author  of  a  biblical  com- 
position, Boaz  and  Ruth,  and  also  of  a  large  Cavalry 
Combat,  if  these  two  pictures  were  not  in  the  mu- 
seums of  Amsterdam  and  the  Hague  ?  The  latter  is 
a  magnificent  work,  full  of  movement  and  energy, 
in  which  we  only  recognize  Berghern's  usual  style  in 
minor  details,  such  as  the  brown  rocks  and  the 
brambles  in  the  foreground.  And  who  would  have 
believed  that,  by  the  side  of  the  Civic  Guards  of 
Van  der  Heist  and  Govaert  Flinck,  Karel  Dujardin 
had  placed  another  collection  of  life-sized  portraits, 
named  the  Syndics  of  some  Dutch  guild  ?  But 
even  in  the  Louvre  there  is  an  instance  of  the  apti- 
tude for  different  subjects  which  distinguishes  Berg- 
hem  and  Karel  Dujardin  from  their  rivals.  By  the 
former  there  is  a  View  of  Nice  and  Port  of  Genoa  ; 
by  the  latter  a  Calvary — too  high  a  subject  for  the 
painter,  as  the  only  religious  expression  to  be  found 
in  it  consists  of  the  sombre  hue  of  the  stormy  sky — 
and  also  the  Italian  Charlatans,  a  well  filled  work  of 
fresh  and  lively  fancy,  which  Descamps  calls,  not 
unjustly,  the  greatest  work  of  this  master.  How- 
ever, I  prefer  him  in  those  subjects  in  which  he  is 


BUTCH  SCHOOL.  215 

most  at  home,  such  as  the  Paturage  and  the  Bocage, 
both  full  of  charming  detail  and  exquisite  rural 
poetry.  From  the  warm  and  brilliant  tints  of  these 
works  we  may  see  at  a  glance  that  the  Batavian 
artist  must  have  been  at  this  time  residing  in  Italy, 
where  he  died  when  still  young.  I  also  prefer 
Berghem  in  his  simple  landscapes  with  cattle.  His 
Ferry,  at  Amsterdam,  and  the  Ford  and  Cattle  drink- 
ing, at  Paris,  will  show  that  I  am  right.  We  may 
see,  also,  in  all  his  pictures,  instead  of  the  mel- 
ancholy of  northern  scenery,  the  warmer  character 
of  the  sunny  south,  and  the  artist's  acquaintance 
with  mountainous  countries.  He  could  not  have 
found  his  burning  sun  in  the  north,  nor  models  in 
the  meadows  and  canals  of  Holland,  for  his  red 
rocks,  blue  distances,  and  festooned  terraces. 

We  now  come  to  the  forced  division  of  the  genre 
painters.  We  will  take  them  in  six  classes  :  anec- 
dotal subjects — those  in  which  the  actors  are  human 
beings — interiors,  animals,  landscapes,  marines,  and 
lastly,  fruit  and  flowers.  In  these  six  classes  may 
be  arranged  all  the  works  of  the  lesser  masters. 

If  any  of  them  be  worthy  to  be  called  the  Rem- 
brandt of  the  easel,  it  is  precisely  the  one  who  did 
not  receive  direct  lessons  from  the  great  Dutch 
painter,  and  who,  perhaps,  was  not  even  born  in 
Holland,  ADRIAN  VAN  OSTADE  (1610-1685).  Although 
his  usual  subjects  be  similar  to  those  treated  by 
Teniers,  he  yet  differs  from  Teniers  as  Rembrandt 
differs  from  Rubens.  Teniers  treats  light  in  the 
same  manner  as  Rubens,  lavishing  it  everywhere ; 
Ostade  concentrates  it,  in  the  style  of  Rembrandt. 


216  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

Except  in  Italy,  Ostade  may  be  found  in  every 
country  where  art  is  held  in  honor.  At  Madrid 
there  is  a  Rural  Concert,  formed  by  some  choristers, 
accompanied  by  the  bagpipe,  the  handle  of  a  broom, 
and  the  mewing  of  a  cat,  whose  ears  are  being 
pulled  to  make  him  join.  At  St.  Petersburg  there 
are  about  twenty  of  his  pictures,  amongst  which  is 
the  valuable  series  of  the  Five  Senses  ;  at  Dresden, 
two  excellent  works,  a  Smoking  Scene  and  a  Painter's 
Studio  in  a  garret  (his  own,  perhaps) ;  at  Munich, 
with  another  superior  work,  a  Dutch  Ale-house,  with 
peasants  fighting,  and  their  wives,  like  the  Sabine 
women,  endeavoring  to  separate  and  pacify  them ; 
at  Rotterdam,  an  Old  Man  in  his  Study  ;  at  Amster- 
dam, a  Village  Assembly  ;  and  lastly,  at  the  Hague, 
two  wonderful  pendents,  which  may  well  be  called 
the  ne  plus  ultra  of  this  master  and  his  branch  of 
art,  the  Interior  and  Exterior  of  a  rustic  house.  The 
Louvre  has  also  a  good  share  of  the  works  of 
Adrian  Van  Ostade.  He  has  left  there,  in  the  ten 
small  portraits  composing  his  family  (which  might 
do  for  any  Dutch  family),  and  especially  in  his  School 
Master,  the  most  complete  and  finished  models  of 
those  small  familiar  scenes,  comedies  in  private  life, 
which  the  wonderful  skill  of  the  artist  compels  us  to 
place  amongst  the  finest  paintings. 

The  best  work  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  direct 
pupils  of  Eembrandt,  GERARD  Dow  (1613-1680),  is 
at  Paris.  We  may  thus  easily  learn  to  appreciate 
this  eminent  artist,  who  was  at  first  a  portrait 
painter,  and  afterwards,  taking  up  the  anecdotal 
style,  began  by  treating  small  subjects  with  great 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  217 

breadth  before  lie  ascended — or  descended,  accord- 
ing to  the  taste  of  the  critic — to  extreme  and  minute 
delicacy.  This  patient  and  laborious  artist,  who 
made  his  own  brushes,  pounded  his  own  colors,  and 
prepared  his  own  varnish,  panels,  or  canvas,  worked, 
in  order  to  avoid  dust,  in  a  studio  opening  on  to  a 
wet  ditch.  His  masterpiece  is  the  Woman  Sick  of 
the  Dropsy.  This  picture,  which  had  been  bought 
by  the  Elector  Palatine  for  the  Prince  Eugene  of 
Savoy,  for  the  sum  of  30,000  florins,  was  presented 
to  the  museum  by  a  soldier,  the  General  Clauzel, 
who  had  received  it  as  a  present  from  the  King  of 
Sardinia,  Charles  Emmanuel  IV.,  when,  in  1798,  he 
received  the  commission,  then  tolerably  common,  of 
dethroning  this  inconvenient  neighbor  of  the  French 
Kepublic.  It  was  intended  as  a  royal  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  loyalty  and  courtesy  of  the  Kepublican 
general ;  it  remains  in  the  Louvre,  placed  near  the 
Conception  of  Murillo,  as  a  proof  of  his  disinterest- 
edness and  generosity.  To  find  any  equal  for  this 
Woman  Sick  of  the  Dropsy,  in  wonderful  finish  and 
general  harmony  of  the  whole,  we  should  have  to 
seek  another  work  by  Gerard  Dow  himself — the 
Empiric,  at  St.  Petersburg,  for  instance,  or  the 
Charlatan  on  his  Stage,  at  Munich,  or  an  almost 
identical  subject  in  the  gallery  at  Buckingham  Pal- 
ace, only  in  this,  the  doctor  is  young  and  handsome, 
the  lady  young  and  beautiful ;  and,  by  her  languish- 
ing looks,  we  might  imagine  that  the  lady  is  only  sick 
like  the  lover  of  Stratonice,  and  that  the  physician 
alone  can  heal  the  wound  he  has  inflicted.  How- 
ever, the  only  picture  I  have  ever  seen  which  can 


218  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

really  venture  to  rival  that  of  the  Louvre,  is  the 
Evening  School,  in  the  Museum  of  Amsterdam.  In 
this  School  the  figures  are  more  numerous,  without 
the  work  being  any  the  less  perfect.  It  presents, 
besides,  the  singularity  of  the  scene  being  lighted 
up  by  four  lights,  three  candles  and  a  lantern.  The 
effect,  doubtless,  is  rather  puerile  and  elaborate,  and 
cannot  be  recommended  to  artists  ;  but  the  diffi- 
culty vanquished  is  immense.  Gerard  Dow,  like 
Kembrandt,  frequently  painted  his  own  portrait.  At 
Paris  there  is  a  portrait  with  his  palette  and  pencils ; 
at  Dresden  another,  playing  on  the  violin,  for  he 
cultivated  the  art  of  sounds  as  well  as  that  of 
colors ;  at  Brussels  he  is  very  young,  drawing  a 
statue  of  Love  by  the  light  of  a  lamp.  This  por- 
trait was  possibly  intended  as  a  lover's  gift. 

Of  the  works  of  GERARD  TERBURG  (1608-1681), 
the  worthy  rival  of  Gerard  Dow  in  the  same  school 
and  manner,  a  remarkable  historical  picture  called 
the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648)  might  have  been  pre- 
served at  Paris,  but  having  been  sold  with  the  col- 
lection of  the  Duchess  de  Berri,  it  has  passed  into 
the  hands  of  a  foreign  amateur.  Terburg,  however, 
may  be  well  studied  and  appreciated  at  the  Louvre ; 
his  Concert,  his  Music  Lesson,  and,  especially,  his 
Offitier  Gallant,  are  very  fine  works,  showing  the 
ingenious  arrangement,  and  soft,  but  firm  touch, 
which  distinguish  him  amongst  the  crowd  of  lesser 
Dutch  painters.  But  none  of  them  rise  much  above 
the  average  of  the  works  to  be  met  with  in  all  the 
galleries  and  cabinets  of  Europe.  None  of  them 
even  equal  the  Conversations  of  St.  Petersburg  and 


DUTCH  SCHOOL.  219 

the  Hague,  the  Young  Lady  ivith  the  Ewer  of  Dres- 
den, Paternal  Advice,  of  Berlin  (changed  to  the  Satin 
Dress  in  the  engraving  of  George  Wille)  the  vast 
Interior  of  a  Cottage,  which  is  at  Munich,  etc.  Ge- 
rard Terburg  had  abandoned  the  ale-house  scenes 
for  concerts,  meals,  and  small  domestic  scenes, 
which  cannot  well  be  classified  by  any  particular 
title.  They  are  usually  called  by  a  general  name, 
scenes  of  Interiors,  and  they  might  perhaps  be  more 
correctly  termed  Exteriors  ;  for  they  are  confined  to 
simple  outside  truth,  without  any  inner  feeling  or  mo- 
ral depth.  But,  from  a  constant  distinction,  as  well 
as  from  the  extreme  perfection  of  details,  Terburg 
relieves  the  perfect  simplicity  of  such  compositions. 
Although  imitating  both  Gerard  Dow  and  Ter- 
burg, GABRIEL  METZU  (1615-after  1664)  has  yet  suc- 
ceeded in  marking  out  a  new  route  for  himself,  and 
has  made  himself  original  by  the  frankness  of  his 
touch,  as  well  as  the  power,  richness,  and  harmony 
of  his  colors.  His  prevailing  tints  are  either  purple, 
like  the  Van  Eycks,  or  sometimes  silvery,  like  Paul 
Veronese,  which  causes  him  to  be  easily  recognized 
among  the  artists  of  that  period  cultivating  the 
same  style  and  treating  the  same  subjects.  The 
Chemist,  the  Officer  and  the  Young  Lady,  and  still 
more  the  Vegetable  Market  at  Amsterdam,  represent 
him  worthily  in  the  Louvre.  And  yet  The  Intruder 
of  the  Baring  collection  in  London,  the  two  Poul- 
terers which  the  Museum  of  Dresden  possesses,  with 
the  celebrated  Lace  Maker,  and  the  other  Poulterer, 
which  the  Museum  of  Cassel  unites  to  the  young 
Musician,  rise  still  higher  in  the  scale  of  perfection 


220  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

At  London,  Dresden,  and  Cassel,  Metzu  is  superior 
to  his  rivals,  even  to  Gerard  Dow,  Terburg,  and  Van 
Ostade.  I  am  even  inclined  to  think  that  he  is  so 
everywhere. 

FRANZ  MIERIS,  the  elder  (1635-1681),  also  belongs 
to  the  school  of  the  lesser  masters.  Gerard  Dow 
called  him  by  a  flattering  distinction,  which  the 
opinion  of  amateurs  has  ratified,  "  the  prince  of  his 
pupils."  This  name  designates  and  explains  him 
well.  In  one  of  the  two  Painter's  Studios  he  has 
introduced  himself,  and  the  violoncello  leaning 
against  a  wall  shows  that  he  shared  his  master's 
taste  for  music,  and  could  join  him  in  a  concert. 
As  one  of  his  masterpieces  I  should  mention  the 
Shopivoman  at  her  Counter  cajoled  by  a  purchaser, 
which  is  in  the  Belvedere  at  Vienna.  For  Mieris, 
this  is  a  very  large  picture,  as  it  is  almost  two  feet 
in  height ;  but  every  figure  and  object  are  finished 
with  as  much  care  as  in  his  miniatures.  Another 
of  his  best  known  pictures  is  the  celebrated  one  at 
Munich  of  a  Lady  fainting  in  presence  of  her  doctor. 
The  only  comparison  wre  can  suggest  for  this  work 
of  Franz  Mieris  is  with  the  masterpiece  of  Gerard 
Dow  himself,  the  Woman  Sick  of  the  Dropsy,  in  the 
Louvre. 

This  family  of  Dutch  painters,  which  extends 
from  Gerard  Dowr  to  Franz  Mieris,  should  adopt  the 
German  GASPARD  NETSCHER  (1636-1684),  who  was 
the  favorite  painter  of  William  III.  of  England,  and 
whom  Gerard  de  Lairesse  called  "the  prince  of 
artists."  He  is  completely  Dutch  in  his  studies  and 
works.  In  the  Louvre,  the  Singing  Lesson  and  the 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  221 

Violoncello  Lesson  ;  at  Munich,  Bathsheba — a  picture 
which  should  not  have  had  a  Biblical  title ;  at 
Carlsruhe,  the  Suicide  of  Cleopatra,  a  fair,  plump 
Frison  woman,  in  a  white  satin  dress,  and  bearing 
very  little  resemblance  to  the  dark  mistress  of  Caesar 
and  Antony  ;  at  Dresden,  a  series  of  Ladies  at  their 
toilette,  in  bed,  at  the  harpsichord,  all  show  us  the 
rival  of  Terburg  and  Metzu  displaying  his  rare  merit 
in  the  rendering  of  fabrics  and  inanimate  objects, 
especially  of  goldsmith's  work,  as  well  as  in  the 
grace,  elegance,  and  distinction  he  always  gives  to 
his  human  models.  Dresden  still  possesses  the 
artist's  portrait  of  himself,  a  very  intellectual  head, 
which  we  are  charmed  to  find  twice  repeated. 
Netscher  has  painted  himself  at  first  in  meditation, 
near  a  table,  then  accompanying  his  wife's  singing 
with  a  guitar  :  he  was  a  musician  like  Dow  and 
Mieris. 

We  must  say  a  few  words  in  conclusion  on  PETER 
VAN  SLINGELANDT  (1640-1691).  He  is  the  least  of 
the  lesser  Dutch  artists,  the  most  patient  and  mi- 
nutely finished  of  even  that  school.  He  took  three 
years  to  cover  a  piece  of  canvas  one  foot  square, 
and  a  whole  month  to  paint  a  lace  band.  It  may 
easily  be  understood  with  such  a  method  of  paint- 
ing how  it  happened  that  he  did  not  paint  more 
than  thirty  pictures  in  his  whole  life.  One  of  the 
most  important  is  in  the  Louvre,  the  Dutch  Family 
(the  Meerman  family).  An  ornamental  drawing- 
room  contains  as  many  as  seven  personages,  the 
father,  mother,  two  children,  a  negro,  a  dog,  and  a 
parrot.  For  the  microscopical  painting  of  Slinge- 


222  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

landt  this  is  a  whole  world,  and  during  the  time  he 
took  to  engrave  this  little  panel,  With  the  help  of  a 
magnifying  glass,  Rubens  painted  on  his  ladder  the 
twenty-one  large  pictures  which  compose  the  History 
of  Maria  de  Medici. 

To  this  purely  anecdotal  series  of  painters  GON- 
ZALES  COQUES  also  belongs,  whose  firm  and  manly 
talent  was  shown  in  his  grouping  of  small-sized  por- 
traits, in  taking  portraits  of1  families,  for  instance, 
that  of  his  own  in  the  Museum  of  the  Hague,  which 
he  has  collected  in  a  picture  gallery. 

To  this  same  series,  which  I  would  not  interrupt 
before,  must  now  be  joined  two  painters  who 
belong  to  it  in  certain  points,  though  they  are 
dissimilar  in  others,  Philip  Wouvermans  and  Jan 
Steen. 

PHILIP  WOUVERMANS  (1620-1668),  a  prodigy  of 
fertility,  produced  in  a  life  one  half  shorter  than 
that  of  Teniers  the  "  two  leagues  of  gallery "  on 
which  that  artist  prided  himself.  No  less  diligent, 
no  less  quick  at  his  work  than  Lope  de  Vega,  he 
must  have  made  a  picture  as  the  latter  did  a  comedy, 
in  the  space  of  one  day.  He  has  left  sixty-four 
merely  in  the  Dresden  Museum,  forty-nine  in  the 
Hermitage,  twenty-two  at  Cassel,  seventeen  at 
Munich,  thirteen  at  the  Louvre,  and  there  are,  be- 
sides, innumerable  ones  dispersed  through  the 
galleries  and  cabinets  of  the  whole  world.  On 
seeing  the  subjects,  very  often  complicated  with 
numerous  details,  and  the  execution,  always  so  care- 
fully finished,  we  ask  with  astonishment  how  the 
life  of  a  single  man — and  a  comparatively  short  life 


DUTCH  SCHOOL.  223 

too  of  forty-eight  years — could  have  sufficed  for  such 
an  achievement.  And  yet  even  Louis  XIV.  could 
not  have  called  the  noble  and  gallant  personages  in 
the  pictures  of  Wouvermans  grotesque,  for  they  do 
not  haunt  the  low  ale-houses  ;  they  live  in  seigniorial 
mansions.  Wouvermans  is  the  elegant  painter  of 
the  life  of  gentlemen,  of  war,  of  hunting,  of  all  the 
sports  in  which  man  has  his  dog  and  horse  for  his 
companions.  At  Paris  there  are  some  good  speci- 
mens of  his  usual  subjects,  ennobled  by  the  style  of 
his  delicate  touch ;  such  are  the  celebrated  Bceuf 
gras,  the  Hunting  Party  on  horseback,  the  two  Cav- 
alry scenes,  and,  especially,  the  Riding  School.  But 
his  best  works  must  be  sought  elsewhere  :  at  Dres- 
den, amongst  the  enormous  number  there,  stag, 
boar,  and  heron  hunting  ;  at  St.  Petersburg,  the 
Burning  Mill,  where  masses  of  verdure,  mingled  with 
whirling  flames,  form  the  most  harmonious  con- 
trast, and  the  Flemish  Carousal  in  a  spacious  plain, 
in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  spectators — a  scene  full 
of  movement  and  gaiety  ;  at  Munich,  the  great  Stag 
Hunt,  a  good  picture  in  every  part,  and  a  Battle, 
doubtless  borrowed  from  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  for 
the  two  armies  in  presence  are  German  and  Swed- 
ish ;  lastly,  at  the  Hague,  the  superb  and  animated 
landscape  known  by  the  name  of  the  Chariot  de  Foin, 
and  the  other  great  Battle  piece,  which  is  the  larg- 
est known  of  the  innumerable  pictures  by  Wouver- 
mans. It  is  also,  perhaps,  the  most  complete  and 
valuable.  It  is  conceived  with  exquisite  taste  and 
great  happiness,  so  covered  with  figures  that  it  is 
impossible  to  count  them,  and  of  very  energetic  and 


224  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

powerful  action,  and  yet  the  touch  is  as  fine  and 
elegant  as  the  most  delicate  miniature. 

JAN  STEEN  (1636-1689),  who  might  be  surnamed 
like  the  elder  Breughel,  the  jovial,  has  nothing  in 
the  Louvre  but  a  Flemish  Festival  in  an  ale-house, 
perhaps  the  one  that  the  artist  himself,  the  son  of  a 
Leyden  brewer,  kept  at  Delft,  through  which  he  was 
ruined,  and  therefore  compelled  to  become  a  painter. 
Jan  Steen  remained  none  the  less  a  friend  to  the 
bottle. 

This  Flemish  Festival  is  not  finely  finished,  if  we 
compare  it  with  the  other  pictures  of  the  school,  or 
even  of  the  painter.  But,  besides  the  fact  that  its 
great  dimensions  permits  a  bolder  and  freer  execu- 
tion, it  is  recommended  by  other  merits,  which  well 
make  up  for  the  want  of  a  more  minute  finish ;  it 
is  full  of  gaiety,  wit,  and  sly  humor,  besides  being 
endowed  with  the  superior  quality  so  rare  in  the 
works  of  most  painters — life.  However,  to  know 
Jan  Steen  well,  we  must  go  farther  than  to  the 
Louvre.  At  the  Belvedere,  at  Vienna,  we  shall  find 
a  Village  Wedding,  and  at  Berlin  a  Garden  of  an 
Ale- House,  which  are  excellent  scenes  of  burlesque 
comedy  ;  at  the  Hermitage,  the  Game  of  .Backgam- 
mon, where  Steen  has  painted  himself  in  conversa- 
tion with  his  wife,  and  a  Ahasuerus  touching  Esther 
with  his  golden  sceptre  ;  a  subject  which  he  has 
endeavored  to  treat  seriously,  but  which  is  only  the 
more  comic  from  the  attempt.  In  England,  at 
Buckingham  Palace,  Ale-houses  quite  worthy  of  be- 
ing admitted  to  a  king's  palace ;  at  Rotterdam  the 
Malade  Imaginairc,  who  fancies  he  has  stones  in  his 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  225 

head,  and  Tobit  curing  his  Father ;  at  the  Hague,  the 
celebrated  Picture  of  Human  Life,  a  large  collection 
of  about  twenty  persons,  executed  in  the  finest 
manner  of  this  irregular  master,  and  the  Family  of 
Jan  Steen,  another  collection  of  a  dozen  life-like 
figures,  lighted  up  as  Peter  de  Hoogh  would  have 
done  ;  in  it  we  notice  particularly  the  charming 
group  of  a  very  aged  grandfather  and  a  little  urchin 
— the  two  childhoods  of  life ;  lastly,  at  Amsterdam, 
a  very  celebrated  scene  of  an  Interior,  called  the 
Feast  of  St.  Nicholas :  the  good  children  receiving 
playthings,  whilst  the  idle  one  finds  a  rod  in  his 
shoe,  and  every  one  laughs  at  him.  There  is  also 
the  excellent  portrait  that  Jan  Steen  has  left  of  him- 
self. This  gentle,  serious,  almost  melancholy,  coun- 
tenance— which  has  nothing  of  the  drunkard  in  it — 
shows  well,  like  that  of  Moliere,  the  true  character 
of  wits  by  profession ;  they  make  others  laugh,  but 
do  not  laugh  themselves. 

After  Jan  Steen  it  is  only  right  to  mention  PIETER 

VAN  LAER,  called  'Barriboccio  ( 1674),  the  poor 

artist,  who,  under  his  deformed  body,  concealed  a 
joyous  disposition  and  much  humor. 

The  name  of  Interiors  applies  to  the  particular 
genre  representing  buildings,  the  subjects  which  re- 
quire a  knowledge  and  employment  of  both  lineal 
and  aerial  perspective.  The  usual  subjects  of  the 
painters  belonging  to  this  class  were  Views  of  Churches, 
as  they  were  the  only  buildings  which  at  the  time 
of  this  school  gave  any  scope  for  the  high  and  wide 
proportions,  and  long  aisles  with  rows  of  pillars, 
views  of  which  were  so  dear,  not  only  to  those  who 


226  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

loved  the  buildings  for  the  uses  to  which  they  were 
applied,  but  also  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  city, 
who  were  proud  of  its  ancient  edifices.  The  mas- 
ters of  this  genre,  going  back  to  its  origin,  are  PIETER 
NEEFS,  the  elder  (1570-1651),  and  HENDRIK  VAN 
STEENWYCK,  the  younger  (1589-after  1642),  both 
pupils  of  the  elder  Steenwyck.  They  are  both  to  be 
found  in  the  Louvre ;  but  the  best  architectural 
pictures  of  Steenwyck  are  at  Vienna,  and  Pieter 
Neefs  has  left  his  principal  works  in  different  places  : 
at  Vienna,  a  Gothic  Church  ;  at  Munich,  an  Interior 
of  a  Church  during  the  night ;  at  St.  Petersburg, 
some  Interiors  obtained  from  Malmaison.  The  per- 
sonages in  these  pictures  are  almost  always  by  a 
different  hand ;  in  them  may  be  recognized  the 
touch  of  the  Breughels,  of  the  Franckens,  of  Poe- 
lemberg,  and  of  Teniers.  The  universal  Albert 
Cuyp,  Emanuel  de  "Witte,  and  Anton  de  Lorme, 
have  added  to  the  rather  dry  designs  of  architecture 
drawn  with  the  ruler  the  new  elements  supplied  by 
the  art  of  painting,  especially  that  of  light,  "  the 
poem  in  three  cantos,  the  noble  poem  of  the  day, 
evening  and  twilight "  (Charles  Blanc).  They  added 
afterwards  all  that  mysterious  poetry  which  is  to  be 
felt  in  large  cathedrals,  in  the  deep  naves,  the  slen- 
der oriels,  the  resounding  pavement,  and  many- 
colored  windows. 

In  this  class  of  Interiors  a  new  variety  may  be 
comprised,  invented  by  PIETER  DE  HOOGH  (between 
1630  and  1640-1708).  This  great  colorist  was  so 
long  and  so  completely  unknown,  that  his  name  has 
been  frequently  effaced  from  pictures  in  order  to 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  227 

substitute  that  of  some  other  painter  better  known 
to  commerce.  Reducing  the  proportions  of  his 
buildings,  and  satisfied  with  merely  a  room  in  a 
house,  provided  that  it  had  a  window  and  a  door 
open,  he  sought  less  for  the  effects  of  perspective 
than  for  those  of  light.  In  this  science  of  light  and 
shadow,  Kembrandt  himself  has  not  surpassed  him, 
and  no  one  else  has  produced  equally  well  the  effect 
of  a  ray  of  sunlight  crossing  shadow  in  a  room.  He 
has  succeeded,  besides,  and  without  borrowing  the 
pencil  of  another,  in  animating  his  little  rooms  by 
personages  as  full  of  life  as  their  dwellings  are  of 
air  and  day.  He  has  succeeded  in  depicting  house- 
hold poetry,  the  poetry  of  the  hearth,  as  wrell  as 
Terburg  and  Metzu.  At  the  Louvre  there  are  two 
fine  pictures  by  Pieter  de  Hoogh,  but  they  are  both 
surpassed  by  the  Eeturn  from  the  Market,  at  the 
Hermitage,  the  Dutch  Cabin,  at  Munich,  and  the 
Interior  (without  any  other  name),  at  Amsterdam. 
The  latter  especially  is  lighted  by  one  of  those 
wonderful  sunbeams,  at  once  the  seal  and  the  honor 
of  the  master. 

As  we  mentioned  the  Samboccio  after  Jan  Steen, 
it  is  only  right  to  name,  after  Pieter  de  Hoogh.  JAN 
VAN  DEK  MEER  (or  Verneer,  born  at  Delft,  1632, 
died  after  1670).  Although  the  View  of  Delft,  in 
the  museum  of  the  Hague,  is  a  landscape  treated  in 
the  manner  of  Philip  de  Koningh,  Van  der  Meer 
still  adheres  rather  to  Pieter  de  Hoogh  in  the  usual 
choice  of  his  subjects  and  his  use  of  effects.  Thore 
has  restored  a  place  in  the  history  of  art  to  this  dis- 
tinguished painter,  whose  principal  works  have  pro- 


228  WONDERS   OF  TAINTING. 

bably  received  the  name  of  de  Hoogh  since  that 
painter  has  been  restored  to  honor. 

To  avoid  the  necessity  of  making  a  separate  class 
of  a  single  painter,  we  will  place  here  the  works  of 
JAN  VAN  DEE  HEYDEN  (1637-1712),  although  they 
are  in  point  of  fact  Exteriors.  It  is  well  known 
what  wonderful  patience  he  must  have  possessed  in 
painting  to  enable  him  to  depict  every  stone  in  a 
wall,  every  tile  of  a  roof,  every  paving-stone  in  a 
street,  every  leaf  on  a  tree,  just  as  Denner,  in  the 
human  countenance,  drew  every  hair  of  the  beard, 
and  the  slightest  wrinkle  in  the  skin.  What  we 
must  especially  admire  in  his  works,  however,  are 
the  fine  general  effects  that  he  produced  from  such 
minute  details,  by  the  harmonious  contrast  of  light 
and  shadow,  and  also  the  manner  in  which  he  made 
picturesque  scenes  of  the  straight  monotonous  lines 
of  streets  and  houses.  The  Vieiv  of  a  Public  Square, 
surrounded  by  trees,  at  Munich  ;  the  Convent  Gar- 
den, at  Grosvenor  House  ;  the  View  of  Antwerp,  at 
the  Hague  ;  the  View  of  a  Dutch  Toivn,  at  Amster- 
dam ;  and  the  View  of  the  Town  Hall  of  Amsterdam, 
at  Paris,  in  which  the  figures  are  painted  by  Adrian 
Van  de  Velde,  are  some  of  the  highest  works  of  this 
special  genre,  in  which  Van  der  Heyden,  who  had 
no  predecessors,  has  remained  without  rivals  and 
even  without  imitators. 

Animals  form  a  necessary  part  of  landscape ;  we 
have  already  found  them  in  the  works  of  Albert 
Cuyp  and  Nicholas  Berghem  ;  we  shall  also  find 
them  in  all  the  other  landscape  painters.  If  I  make 
a  class  of  them  separately  it  is  when,  instead  of 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  22CJ 

merely  forming  an  accessory  of  the  picture,  they  be- 
come the  principal  part,  putting  the  landscape  which 
surrounds  them  into  the  second  place.  In  this  par- 
ticular genre  PAUL  POTTER  (1625-1654),  who  has 
been  termed  the  Raphael  of  Animals,  is  the  greatest 
master. 

He  was  a  small  country  gentleman,  whom  the 
sight  of  nature,  and  the  universal  passion  for  paint- 
ing which  had  then  overspread  the  country,  rather 
than  the  counsels  of  his  father,  or  the  lessons  of  a 
certain  Eaphael  Camphuysen,  led  to  devote  himself 
to  painting.  He  had  no  sooner  made  his  name 
known,  though  he  was  still  very  young,  than  he 
went  to  live  first  at  the  Hague  and  afterwards  at 
Amsterdam,  where  he  died  from  overwork  at  the 
age  of  29,  eight  years  younger  than  Eaphael.  The 
Hague  has  retained  the  one  of  his  works  which  may 
be  said  to  be  unique  in  its  kind  ;  this  is  the  land- 
scape in  which  are  assembled  a  young  brown  bull, 
a  cow,  three  sheep,  and  their  shepherd,  all  of  life- 
size.  This  picture  is  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Young  Bull  of  Paul  Potter.  He  painted  it  at  the 
age  of  22.  It  was  an  incredible  act  of  audacity. 
From  its  unusual  size  this  bull  required  a  thoroughly 
different  system  of  execution  from  that  of  the  mas- 
ters who  had  preceded  him,  and  from  the  earlier 
works  of  Paul  Potter  himself.  He  had  to  create  a 
fresh  system,  and  succeeded  in  accomplishing  it. 
He  first  painted  this  picture  in  the  manner  of  the 
great  hunting  scenes  of  Snyders,  with  a  strong  and 
deep  impasto  in  the  masses ;  then  over  this,  almost 
in  relief,  he  traced  out  the  details — as  finely  finished 


230  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

as  a  house  by  Van  der  Hey  den,  or  a  face  by  Denner. 
.  This  method  of  attaining,  by  the  union  of  two  sys- 
tems, to  extreme  perfection,  is  very  interesting  to 
artists,  who  never  weary  of  admiring  the  combination 
and  effect ;  many  even  declare  that  this  Young  Bull, 
looked  at  as  an  exercise  of  the  pencil,  is  the  most 
astonishing  work  ever  produced  in  the  art  of  paint- 
ing. 

And  yet  I  must  venture  to  say  that  I  do  not 
entirely  approve  this  victorious  attempt  of  Potter's, 
and  that  I  think  any  artist  would  be  hopelessly  lost 
who  should  endeavor  to  imitate  it.  It  is  well  that  a 
portrait,  or  the  figures  in  a  historical  picture,  should 
be  of  the  size  of  life ;  we  are  accustomed  to  see  men 
near  us  ;  but  usually  we  only  see  animals,  flocks 
especially,  in  the  distance.  It  is  better  adapted, 
then,  to  the  subject  to  paint  them  smaller,  for  it 
shows  them  to  us  as  we  usually  see  them.  In  sup- 
port of  this  opinion  I  shall  adduce  Paul  Potter  him- 
self. In  looking  at  the  admirable  background  of 
this  picture — the  large  meadow  bordered  with  trees, 
where  other  cattle  are  grazing,  the  light,  air,  and 
life-like  nature  around — we  can  scarcely  help  regret- 
ting that  these  huge  beasts  in  the  foreground  con- 
ceal so  large  a  part  of  the  landscape  ;  we  should 
prefer  them  to  be  farther  back,  in  order  to  see  bet- 
ter. This  thought  may,  perhaps,  be  considered  by 
some  as  almost  blasphemous  ;  but  I  cannot  help  it, 
and  others  possibly  may  agree  with  me.  I  only 
beg  them,  however,. as  my  excuse,  to  look  on  one 
side  of  this  gigantic  bull,  at  the  other  admirable 
landscape  that  Paul  Potter  painted  the  following 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  231 

year,  1648,  and  which  is  called,  on  account  of  the 
sheet  of  water  where  the  cattle  drink,  La  Vache  qui 
se  mire. 

But  we  will  pass  on  to  the  Museum  of  Amsterdam  : 
there  I  shall  be  fully  justified.  What  is  this  fright- 
ful decoration  called  a  Bear  Hunt  ?  A  sort  of  Hun- 
garian hussar  approaches  bare-headed,  and  armed 
with  a  most  innocent-looking  sword,  to  attack  these 
terrible  animals  ;  it  is  perfectly  ridiculous.  The 
bears  are  out  of  drawing,  the  dogs  extravagant. 
There  are,  indeed,  torn  and  bleeding  limbs,  and 
plenty  to  excite  horror  and  disgust,  but  no  move- 
ment, no  effect.  The  only  reason  for  placing  this 
hideous  scene  in  the  place  of  honor  is,  that  it  bears 
the  revered  name  of  Paidus  Potter,  and  the  date  1649. 
He  was  surely  right  in  the  five  remaining  years  of 
his  short  life  never  again  to  employ  these  propor- 
tions. We  may  see  this  from  a  picture  dated  in  the 
following  year,  and  entitled  Orpheus  subduing  Animals. 
At  the  foot  of  a  wooded  hill,  in  a  verdant  glade,  Or- 
pheus is  seated  with  a  harp  in  his  hand  like  King 
David,  but  dressed  as  a  Walloon.  Around  him  are 
ranged  a  -number  of  animals,  not  merely  those  fami- 
liar to  Paul  Potter,  such  as  the  cow,  the  goat,  the 
sheep,  the  ass,  and  the  dog,  but  also  the  wild  ani- 
mals of  other  countries,  such  as  the  lion,  the  ele- 
phant, the  camel,  the  buffalo,  the  bear,  and  even  the 
unicorn.  When  this  small  picture  is  compared  with 
the  larger  one,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  decide  on 
their  merits. 

We  will  now  examine  some  of  his  works  in  other 
parts  of  Europe.  At  Paris  there  are  only  very  fee* 


232  WONDEKS   OF  PAINTING. 

ble  specimens  of  his  style.  In  London  there  are  at 
least  two  authentic  works  by  Paul  Potter,  and  these 
are  masterpieces.  One  is  in  the  gallery  of  the  Mar- 
quis of  Westminster,  the  other  at  Buckingham 
Palace.  The  former  represents  Cows  and  Sheep 
under  some  willow  trees,  in  a  meadow.  This  won- 
derful little  landscape,  lighted  up  by  the  warm  rays 
of  the  sun  at  noon,  is  equal  to  any  work  of  this 
master.  It  is  dated  1647.  Paul  Potter  was  there- 
fore only  22  when  he  painted  it.  Such  a  precocity 
of  talent  explains  the  reason  why  a  man  who  died  in 
his  29th  year  should  yet  have  left  so  many  master- 
pieces. The  second,  in  Buckingham  Palace,  is  a 
complete  little  country  scene.  A  child  has  stolen 
two  puppies  from  their  mother,  who  is  pursuing  fu- 
riously and  biting  him  ;  the  child  is  flying  in  terror ; 
a  cock  is  running  off  at  the  noise,  flying  as  much  as 
he  can ;  some  horses  are  looking  out  curiously  from 
the  stable  door,  whilst  a  cow  that,  is  being  milked, 
and  the  sheep  mixing  in  the  scene,  give  it  all  the 
unity  and  variety  of  composition  that  can  be  wished 
for  in  an  historical  picture. 

But  Paul  Potter  is  greater  at  St.  Petersburg  than 
either  in  England  or  in  his  own  country.  Of  his 
very  rare  works,  the  imperial  cabinet  of  Kussia  has 
collected  nine,*  and  we  must  stop  a  few  moments 
over  the  three  principal  ones.  One  appears  to  have 
realized  the  wish  of  La  Fontaine's  lion  : 

"  Si  nos  confreres  savaient  peindre  !" 

*  A  tenth,  bought  in  Holland  for  the  Empress  Catharine,  was 
destroyed  in  a  shipwreck,  with  several  other  choice  pictures. 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  233 

It  is  the  trial  of  man  by  the  animals.  This  sin- 
gular composition,  which  resembles  the  multiform 
pictures  of  the  old  masters  of  the  Kenaissance, 
forms  fourteen  compartments,  the  two  largest  of 
which  are  surrounded  by  the  twelve  smaller  ones. 
Paul  Potter  did  not  paint  all  these  chapters  himself. 
The  history  of  Acteon  is  by  Poelemberg,  that  of  St. 
Hubert,  perhaps,  by  Teniers.  The  central  panel 
belongs  to  Paul  Potter  ;  it  represents  the  Condem- 
nation of  Man  by  the  Tribunal  of  Animals.  A  large 
Landscape,  dated  1650,  is  a  more  important  picture, 
and  is  entirely  by  Paul  Potter.  Through  a  thick 
wood,  near  a  piece  of  water  concealed  in  the  sha- 
dow, a  road  passes,  lighted  by  the  sun,  or  rather  by 
a  most  brilliant  moon.  A  traveller  on  horseback, 
two  fishermen,  a  herdsman  and  his  cows,  supply  the 
living  portion  of  the  landscape.  This  picture  can 
only  be  surpassed  by  a  landscape  which  Paul  Pot- 
ter painted  in  1649,  when  24  years  of  age.  This 
celebrated  picture  was  ordered  by  a  dowager 
countess  of  Zolms,  nee  Princess  Emily  of  Nassau. 
But  this  great  lady  doubtless  loved  painting  in  the 
style  of  Louis  XIV.  She  refused  the  picture  as 
inconvenient  and  indecent,  and  it  passed  into  the 
hands  first  of  a  sheriff  of  Amsterdam,  then  to  the 
gallery  of  Hesse  Cassel,  then  to  Malmaison,  and 
finally  to  the  Hermitage.  It  represents  a  flat  pas- 
ture land,  in  full  sunshine,  without  any  masses  of 
shadow,  any  chiaroscuro,  or  relief  of  any  kind. 
Only  large  trees,  dispersed  here  and  there,  over- 
shadow a  farm  and  some  cattle  in  repose.  But  in 
this  simple  landscape,  Paul  Potter  has  united  to 


234  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

his  favorite  cows  nearly  everything  that  can  ani- 
mate a  landscape,  horses,  asses,  goats,  sheep,  hens, 
a  dog  and  a  cat,  besides  people.  It  is  the  finest  of 
his  works,  and  the  masterpiece  of  this  genre.  In 
France,  Paul  Potter  is  so  little  known,  that  the 
astonishment  there  felt  at  his  reputation  in  other 
countries  is  not  surprising.  People  laugh  at  the 
infatuation  of  amateurs  who  buy  a  picture  like  a 
tulip,  solely  on  account  of  its  rarity.  But  before 
such  a  picture  as  this,  they  would  soon  change 
their  opinion,  and  confess  that  buying  it  at  the  price 
of  an  estate  even  would  only  be  rendering  it  justice 
and  giving  for  it  its  just  value.* 

Among  the  painters  of  animals  an  honorable 
place  must  be  given  to  the  painter  of  poultry-yards, 
MELCHIOE  HONDEKOETER  (1636-1695).  At  the  Lou- 
vre there  are  sivans  and  peacocks  by  him.  But  these 
birds  are  too  grand  for  him ;  common  hens  and 
ducks  are  the  personages  usually  to  be  found  in 
most  of  the  pictures  which  have  justly  rendered  his 
name  famous.  To  know  Hondekoeter  well,  we 
should  see  the  Fight  betiveen  a  Cock  and  a  Turkey,  at 
the  Hermitage,  the  Menagerie  of  Birds  at  Loo,  at  the 
Hague,  and  the  Floating  Feather,  at  Amsterdam. 
This  feather  has  drifted  on  to  a  pool  where  ducks 
are  swimming.  But  Hondekoeter,  like  Paul  Potter, 
painted  living  animals ;  others  have  made  a  special 
domain  in  painting  dead  ones.  Of  this  class  are 

*  It  is  said  that  this  picture  was  estimated  at  250,000  franca 
(£10,000)  in  the  valuation  of  the  picture  cabinet  at  Malmaisou. 
This  was  in  1814  ;  what  would  it  be  worth  now  ? 


DUTCH  SCHOOL.  235 

JAN  FYT  (1609-1661),  and  JAN  WEENIX  (1644-1719). 
Both  usually  chose  small  game — hares,  pheasants, 
snipe,  ducks,  birds  of  all  sorts — of  the  finest  forms 
and  colors,  which  they  grouped  with  hunting  wea- 
pons, or  under  the  charge  of  a  dog  of  pure  breed. 
Fyt  and  Weenix  have  both  retained  their  renown, 
for  the  bold  strokes  of  the  former,  as  well  as  thj 
patient  work  of  the  latter,  carry  the  imitation  of 
game  to  such  a  point  that  they  almost  seem  to 
restore  life  to  the  dead.  The  Pheasant,  considered 
the  masterpiece  of  Jan  Weenix,  is  at  the  Hague. 

On  coming  to  the  important  class  of  Landscape  • 
painters,  we  must  notice  that  this  is  really  thj 
creation  of  the  Netherlands.  The  Italian  painters, 
even  Annibale  Carracci  in  his  Lunettes,  and  Domeni- 
chino  and  Poussin,  did  not  venture  to  form  a  pic- 
ture of  Nature  alone  ;  they  always  required  an  his- 
torical subject,  a  human  drama,  for  which  Nature 
merely  furnished  the  theatre.  It  was  a  Fleming, 
PAUL  BRIL,  of  Antwerp  (1554-1626),  who,  by  con- 
fining himself  to  views  of  the  country,  gave  the 
Italians  the  first  example  of  pure  landscape.  Paolo 
Brilli,  as  they  called  him,  was  then,  in  fact,  the  crea- 
tor of  this  genre  ;  and,  having  settled  in  Borne  half 
a  century  before  Claude  Lorraine,  was  his  precursor, 
if  not  his  master.  This  style  was  immediately  con- 
tinued, even  in  Italy,  by  other  Flemings,  ROELANDT 
S AVERT,  HERMANN  SWANEVELT,  JAN  ASSELYN,  called 
the  Little  Crab,  on  account  of  his  maimed  hand  and 
hooked  fingers,  lastly,  JAN  BOTH  (1610-1650).  The 
two  Boths,  Jan  and  Andreas,  are  models  of  fraternal 
affection,  since  Jan  died  of  grief  when  his  brother 


236  WONDERS    OF  PAINTING. 

was  drowned  in  one  of  the  canals  of  Venice,  and  An- 
dreas, who  might  have  become  an  eminent  artist 
both  in  painting  and  engraving,  resigned  himself, 
with  touching  self-denial,  to  do  nothing  but  place 
figures  in  his  brother's  landscapes.  Their  works 
being  thus  joint  productions,  should  in  strict  justice 
be  said  to  be  by  the  Brothers  Both.  But  custom 
has  decided  that  they  should  bear  the  name  of  the 
elder.  In  these  pictures  we  may  admire  the  warm 
golden  tints  of  southern  countries,  which,  united  to 
the  natural  style  of  Jan  Both,  make  of  him  a  sort  of 
Claude,  though  wilder  and  more  rural.  In  looking 
at  the  large  trees  in  his  foregrounds,  for  instance, 
we  recall  the  nervous  description  of  Bernardin  de 
St.  Pierre,  contrasting,  in  his  Harmonies,  the  firm 
and  immovable  oak-tree  of  the  North,  to  the  flexible 
and  pliant  palm-tree  of  southern  climes  :  "  With  his 
knotted  branches,  the  oak  resembles  an  athlete 
fighting  with  the  tempest." 

It  is,  however,  JAN  WYNANTS  (between  1600  and 
1610-1677),  who  commences  the  cycle  of  real  Dutch 
landscape  painters,  of  those  who  were  born,  and 
lived  and  died  in  Holland.  For  them  Nature  is  no 
longer  the  theatre  for  a  subject,  but  is  herself  the 
subject.  They  studied  and  copied  her  under  all 
her  aspects  ;  they  made  of  her,  as  of  a  loved  mother, 
almaparens,  a  thousand  different  portraits,  all  striking 
in  their  truthfulness.  It  is  the  glory  of  Wynants  to 
have  been  one  of  the  first  to  have  accepted  and  con- 
secrated this  new  branch,  which  might  have  remained 
only  secondary,  and  to  have  raised  it  by  his  great 
talent.  Whilst  Both,  Berghem,  Pynacker,  copied 


DUTCH  SCHOOL.  237 

the  warm  and  mountainous  scenes  of  Italy,  Wynants 
fell  in  love  with  his  own  Holland.  The  first  country 
scene  he  came  upon,  provided  he  could  introduce  a 
few  figures  and  animals,  which  were  painted  by 
complaisant  and  unambitious  assistants,  and  could 
also  bring  in  the  winding  road  coming  from  and  go- 
ing no  one  knows  where,  were  sufficient  for  this  ex- 
cellent master,  who  is  rendered  no  less  celebrated  by 
his  pupils  than  by  his  own  works. 

At  the  same  time  JAN  VAN  GOYEN  and  SOLOMON 
EUYSDAEL  were  also  taking  views  of  their  freed  and 
glorious  country  ;  usually  on  the  banks  of  its  rivers 
and  canals,  the  one  with  grey  and  reddish  tints, 
showing  the  ordinary  gloom  of  this  climate,  the 
other,  with  more  verdure,  sunshine,  and  elegance. 
Then,  as  if  in  contrast  to  the  artist-travellers  who 
brought  Italy  back  with  them  to  Holland,  ALBERT 
VAN  EVEIIDINGEN  (1621-1675),  bringing  back  from 
his  travels  the  mountainous  scenes  of  Norway  shad- 
owed with  firs,  and  intersected  with  ravines  and 
waterfalls,  introduced  into  Dutch  painting  the  na- 
ture of  the  extreme  north.  It  was  from  all  these 
different  elements  that  the  chief  of  the  Dutch  school 
of  landscape-painting,  JACOB  EUYSDAEL  (about  1620 
or  1625-1681),  was  formed.  He  is  a  striking  proof 
of  the  saying  of  Bacon  :  Ars  est  homo  additus  naturce. 
To  the  talents  of  his  predecessors  or  contemporaries 
he  added  the  dreamy  and  melancholy  poetry  of  his 
own  mind,  which  can  only  be  well  understood  by 
characters  resembling  his  own.  It  seems,  indeed, 
to  me  that,  like  Poussin  in  this  respect,  he  must  not 
aspire  to  the  admiration  of  the  crowd.  Euysdael, 


238  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

who  quitted  medicine  for  painting,  and  who,  like 
Michael  Angelo  and  Beethoven,  was  never  married, 
appears  to  have  thought,  with  Montaigne,  "  qu'il  y 
a  qmlque  umbre  de  friandise  et  delicatesse  au  giron 
m.eme  de  la  milancJiolie."  If  we  seek  in  Ruysdael 
merely  the  imitation,  the  portrait  of  nature,  he  is 
equalled,  and,  perhaps,  even  surpassed,  in  some 
technical  points,  by  Hobbema,  Decker,  and  some 
others ;  but  it  is  the  inner  sentiment,  the  poetry  of 
solitude,  of  silence,  of  mystery,  which  placed  him 
in  the  front  rank  alone.  Albert  Diirer  made  a  beau- 
tiful figure  of  Melancholy ;  without  being  personi- 
fied, it  is  visible  in  all  the  works  of  Ruysdael. 

We  will  seek  throughout  Europe  for  the  choicest 
of  his  works.  In  the  Louvre  there  are  only  a  very 
small  number,  scarcely  one  half  of  those  which  may 
be  found  at  Munich,  Dresden,  and  St.  Petersburg, 
and  these  are  not  by  any  means  the  best  of  his  works. 
There  is,  however,  a  charming  landscape,  of  very 
fine  execution,  which  is  called  the  Coup  de  fcoleil ; 
then  another  landscape,  still  more  simple,  whose 
name  of  the  Bush  describes  the  whole  subject. 
There  is  also  a  Storm  on  the  coast  and  near  the 
dykes  of  Holland,  dark  and  strong,  admirable  in  the 
rendering  of  the  tumultuous  waves  and  sinister  as- 
pect of  the  sky ;  Michelet  calls  it  the  "  prodigy  of 
the  Louvre." 

In  Holland  itself  we  find  little  more  than  the  Wa- 
terfall, at  the  entrance  to  a  wooded  ravine,  on  the 
two  steep  banks  of  wrhich  stand  old  castles.  Thig 
magnificent  work  is  in  the  Museum  of  Amsterdam, 
with  a  View  of  Benteim  Castle,  a  small  finely-painted 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  239 

landscape,  lighted  by  brilliant  sunshine.  It  was 
painted  on  one  of  his  happiest  days.  Eotterdam 
also  possesses  another  view  of  Bentheiin  Castle, 
which  he  painted  so  many  times  and  under  such 
different  aspects  ;  yet  always  with  the  greatest  care 
and  finish.  But  alas,  in  the  foreground  of  this  pic- 
ture, some  miserable  painter  has  introduced,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Moselle,  the  Gospel  incident  of  the  dis- 
ciples going  to  Euimaus !  So  that  the  three  figures 
are  intended  for  our  Lord  and  the  disciples.  Such 
a  shocking  contrast  would  take  all  the  poetry  out  of 
the  picture  if  we  did  not  remember  what  Claude, 
who  was  also  frequently  disgraced  by  his  assistants, 
had  said,  that  he  gave  the  figures  in  his  landscapes 
"over  and  above  the  bargain."  In  England,  Euys- 
dael  is  especially  to  be  found  in  private  galleries,  for 
instance,  in  the  museum  of  Thomas  Baring,  Esq., 
the  Troubled  River,  which  equals  the  Storm,  in  the 
Louvre.  In  Kussia,  fifteen  pictures  represent  him 
in  the  imperial  museum.  In  the  figures  we  often 
recognize  the  hand  of  Adrian  Van  Ostade  and  Ad- 
rian Van  de  Velde,  which  increases  their  value. 
Four  of  these  landscapes  struck  me  especially.  One 
is  very  small  and  very  simple  :  a  sandy  plain,  a 
winding  road,  a  peasant  followed  by  his  dog ;  noth- 
ing more.  But  over  this  a  veil  of  sadness  which 
touches  the  heart  as  much  as  the  most  pathetic 
scene.  Another  is  equally  simple,  though  of 
much  larger  size  :  a  pathway  through  a  wood,  and, 
on  the  banks  of  a  sheet  of  stagnant  water,  a  large 
beech- tree,  half  despoiled  of  its  branches  by  time. 
In  the  third,  the  principal  personage  again — if  I 


240  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

may  be  allowed  the  expression — is  an  old  beech,  the 
artist's  favorite  tree,  broken  by  the  lightning  and 
fallen  into  the  waves  of  a  torrent,  which  forms  a 
magnificent  sheet  of  water  rolling  over  the  rocks. 
The  fourth  seems  to  include  the  two  preceding  ones. 
This  is  also  in  a  deep  forest,  a  fallen  beech-tree, 
with  a  sheet  of  stagnant  water  almost  hidden  by  the 
water-lilies.  Two  or  three  water  birds,  standing  on 
their  webbed  feet,  and  one  passing  in  the  distance, 
is  all  that  animates  this  solitude  ;  but  the  scene  is 
full  of  silence,  mystery,  and  soft  melancholy,  and 
Euysdael  has  never  spoken  more  eloquently  to 
thoughtful  and  dreamy  souls. 

However,  it  is  in  Germany  that  his  greatest  works 
are  to  be  found.  At  Munich  there  are  nine  land- 
scapes, all  as  beautiful  as  can  be  desired.  In  the 
largest  there  is  a  Cascade  foaming  down  over  masses 
of  rocks.  This  picture  is  valuable  as  well  for  its 
great  perfection  as  from  its  unusual  size.  At  Dres- 
den there  are  thirteen  of  his  paintings,  to  which  may 
be  added  several  by  SOLOMON  EUYSDAEL,  who,  like 
Hubert  Van  Eyck,  was  his  brother's  master,  though 
afterwards  the  renown  of  the  pupil  eclipsed  that  of 
the  master.  Among  these  thirteen  pictures  several 
are  justly  celebrated.  One  of  those  is  known  by  the 
name  of  RuysdaeTs  Chase.  It  is  a  forest  of  beech  trees, 
broken  only  by  some  sheets  of  water  reflecting  the 
clouds  in  the  sky.  Under  these  great  trees,  Adrian 
Van  de  Velde  has  painted  a  stag  hunt,  from  which 
the  name  of  the  picture  has  been  taken.  This  is 
one  of  the  largest  as  well  as  most  magnificent  to  be 
found  in  his  entire  works.  But,  in  my  opinion, 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  241 

Euysdael  is  more  to  be  admired  in  his  smaller 
works.  For  instance,  another  view  of  the  same  old 
Castle  of  Bentheim,  on  the  summit  of  a  hill  covered 
with  brushwood ;  nothing  can  be  more  attractive 
arid  wonderful  than  this.  In  some  of  the  others 
Euysdael  has  given  full  expression  to  that  deep  mel- 
ancholy with  which  all  his  works  are  tinged.  To 
this  class  belong  the  ruined  Cloister,  on  the  banks 
of  a  river  overshadowed  by  large  trees,  and  still 
more  the  Jeius*  Cemetery,  in  which  the  blackened  and 
tottering  tombs  standing  amongst  ruins  and  wild 
shrubs  are  all  being  saturated  by  the  waters  of  an 
overflowing  stream.  Poussin  himself  could  not  have 
found  greater  depth  of  sadness  or  desolation  to  de- 
pict the  last  dwelling-place  of  a  persecuted  an!  do- 
spised  race. 

The  largest,  the  most  important,  and,  perhaps, 
the  most  perfect  of  Euysdael's  works  is,  however,  to 
be  found  in  Vienna.  It  is  about  6  Let  wide  by  5 
feet  high,  and  the  unusual  size  of  the  picture  shows 
that  Euysdael  intended  it  for  an  extraordinary  work. 
Nothing  could  be  more  simple  than  the  subject ;  it 
is  called  the  Forest.  Under  a  calm  sky  crossed  by 
floating  clouds,  a  clump  of  high  trees  on  a  flat  bar- 
ren country,  through  which  a  pathway  winds,  cut 
off  in  the  foreground  by  a  stream,  and  losing  itself 
in  the  distant  horizon  ;  this  is  ah1.  And  yet  it  is  the 
truest,  most  excellent  portrait  of  simple  nature  that 
can  be  imagined.  The  only  landscape  paintings 
that  can  be  placed  above  it  are  those  dreamed  of 
and  composed  by  Claude  Lorraine  ;  as  in  the  works 
of  Eaphael,  after  the  Suonatore  di  Violino,  we  can 


24:2  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

only  come  to  the  Madonna  delta  Sedia ;  and  in  the 
works  of  Rembrandt,  after  the  Staalmeisters  ;  we  can 
only  look  at  the  Night  Watch. 

The  only  possible  rival  for  Jacob  Euysdael  is 
MINDEKHOUT  HoBBEMA  (1638-1709),  who  wras  perhaps 
his  pupil,  and  was  certainly  his  friend.  But,  con- 
trary to  his  model,  he  only  painted  smiling  and  se- 
rene nature.  Hobbema  was  long  forgotten  ;  his 
name  was  effaced  from  his  works  in  order  to  substi- 
tute the  name  or  monogram  of  Euysdael,  whose  re- 
nown never  suffered  an  eclipse.  At  the  present 
time,  by  one  of  those  returns  to  favor  produced 
even  in  art  by  the  caprices  of  fashion,  the  decried 
Hobbema  has  been  so  much  extolled,  that  he  may, 
perhaps,  be  unable  to  retain  his  exalted  position. 
His  works,  which  are,  indeed,  rare,  obtain  prices 
higher  than  those  of  Ruysdael.  This  is  another  in- 
justice in  the  opposite  direction.  A  proof  that  this 
sudden  and  astonishing  celebrity  is  not  of  ancient- 
date  is,  that  of  the  three  museums  of  Holland  that 
of  Rotterdam  alone  possesses  any  specimen  of  Hob- 
bema. He  has  more  important  works  elsewhere, 
such  as  the  Dutch  Cabin  at  Munich  and  the  Oak 
Forest  at  Berlin.  But  as  his  masterpieces  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  point  to  the  large  pendents  in  Grosvenor 
House.  They  have  no  consecrated  name  that  I 
know  of ;  they  are  simply  Landscapes — views  of  a 
wooded  country,  lighted  and  rejoiced  by  the  bright 
rays  of  the  sun — but  very  bright,  very  profound,  of 
complete  and  commanding  beauty. 

There  is  another  landscape  painter  of  the  same 
period  and  of  the  same  school,  whose  works  were  also 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  243 

for  a  long  time  attributed  to  Kuysdael,  and  who  de- 
serves, like  Hobbeiua,  to  be  reinstated  in  the  place 
he  occupied  during  his  life.  This  is  CONRAD  (or  Cor- 
nel is)  DECKER.  It  is  a  proof  that  he  was  held  in  high 
estimation,  that  Adrian  Van  Ostade  rendered  him 
the  same  service  that  Adrian  Van  de  Velde  rendered 
to  Wynants,  that  of  painting  the  figures  of  men  and 
animals  in  his  pictures.  But  since  his  works  were 
long  accepted  as  those  of  Ruysdael,  what  necessity 
is  there  for  any  other  eulogy  on  Decker  ?  And  hav- 
ing thus  restored  him  to  his  right  position  after 
Euysdael,  it  would  be  only  just  to  replace  JAN  VAN 
DEK  HAGEN  near  Hobbema. 

ADRIAN  VAN  DE  VELDE  (1639-1672)  is  more  origi- 
nal. This  illustrious  disciple  of  Wynants,  whose 
life  was  shorter  than  that  of  Euysdael,  and  very 
little  longer  than  Paul  Potter's,  may  claim  one  im- 
portant title  to  superiority :  in  his  calm,  smiling, 
peaceful  views  of  nature,  he  was  able  himself  to 
paint  the  human  figures  almost  as  well  as  Wouver- 
mans,  and  his  animals  almost  as  well  as  Paul  Potter 
himself.  Only  his  animals  and  men  are  usually 
peaceful  and  devoid  of  action.  Adrian  Van  de 
Velde  is,  in  painting,  the  poet  of  the  eclogue  and 
the  idyll.  Without  going  further  in  search  of  his 
works,  we  shall  find  a  sufficient  quantity  in  the 
Louvre  :  the  Coast  of  Scheveningen,  where  the  Prince 
of  Orange  is  driving  in  a  carriage  and  six  ;  a  Frozen 
Canal;  the  Herdsman s  Family,  a  charming  minia- 
ture, etc.  One  of  his  animated  landscapes,  called 
the  Rising  Sun,  gilded  with  warm  and  brilliant  tints 
in  the  style  of  Claude,  seems  to  show  the  highest 


244  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

point  of  the  wonderful  talent  of  Adrian  Van  de 
Velde. 

PHILIP  DE  KONINGH  (1619-1689),  the  worthy  pupil 
of  Kembrandt,  has  made  for  himself  a  distinct  line 
in  landscape  painting,  of  which  his  master  had  in- 
dicated the  secret,  but  which  none  other  of  his  dis- 
ciples inherited.  The  endless  depths  of  a  smooth 
plain,  of  a  Dutch  steppe,  intersected  by  alternate 
shadow  and  light ;  this  was  his  usual  and  favorite 
subject.  He  appears  to  have  endeavored  to  give  an 
idea  of  the  infinite.  Very  little  known  in  France, 
Philip  Koningh  is  much  valued  in  Holland  and 
England.  He  has  left,  both  in  the  Amsterdam  Mu- 
seum and  also  in  the  gallery  of  Grosvenor  House, 
some  works  of  striking  merit. 

Of  the  brothers  Van  Ostade,  like  the  brothers 
Euysdael,  one  was  the  pupil  of  the  other.  But  of 
the  latter  Jacob  attained  to  greater  excellence  than 
Solomon  ;  whilst  of  the  former,  on  the  contrary, 
Isaac  did  not  attain  to  the  celebrity  of  his  brother 
Adrian.  Perhaps  this  verdict  should  be  reconsid- 
ered. ISAAC  VAN  OSTADE  (1617-1654)  appears  to 
me  to  equal  his  brother  in  a  different  line  ;  and  it  is 
only  in  his  genre  that  he  remains  his  inferior. 
Adrian  doubtless  is  superior  in  the  painting  of  little 
domestic  or  popular  dramas,  where  the  human  be- 
ing holds  the  first  place ;  but  Isaac  makes  up  for 
this  by  the  representation  of  the  natural  scenes  of 
these  dramas;  he  is  more  of  a  landscape  painter. 
This  may  be  seen  in  the  Louvre,  in  his  two  Halts  of 
travelling  parties  before  a  hostelry,  and  in  an  open 
Dutch  landscape.  There  may  also  be  found  another 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  245 

subject  which  he  frequently  treated,  and  which  maj 
be  seen  everywhere,  a  Frozen  Caned  covered  by  tra- 
vellers on  skates.  The  winter  is  the  beautiful  sea- 
son of  Holland  and  ah1  the  north  as  far  as  Russia. 
Isaac  Van  Ostade  made  for  himself  a  specialty  of 
these  winter  landscapes,  as  Van  der  Neer  of  moon- 
light. He  was,  and  still  is,  the  master  in  it — with 
Van  der  Neer,  however,  who  was  not  only  a  lover  of 
the  moon,  but  also  of  snow. 

This  ARTUS  VAN  DER  NEER  (1613  or  1619-1683), 
more  even  than  the  Gherardo  delli  Notti  of  the 
Italians,  was  the  poet  of  the  night.  He  has  merely 
painted  simple  and  true  nature,  and  only  the  scenes 
to  be  found  in  his  own  country  ;  but  he  has  made  a 
dominion  for  himself  between  the  twilight  of  the 
evening  and  of  the  morning.  It  might  be  supposed 
that  his  eyes,  like  those  of  the  owls,  could  not  sup- 
port the  brilliancy  of  the  sun,  and  preferred  the  pale 
rays  of  the  moon.  When  he  does  ever  venture  into 
the  daylight  it  is  in  the  depth  of  winter,  during  days 
of  ice  and  snow,  or  when  the  sky  is  misty,  and  the 
light  almost  as  pale  as  in  the  twilight.  Melancholy 
is  the  characteristic  of  Buysdael's  painting,  and  mys- 
tery that  of  Van  der  Neer.  Yet  he  never  chose 
anything  for  his  subject  but  flat  Dutch  landscapes, 
with  the  motionless  waters,  and  meadows  bordered 
with  willows ,  he  dispenses  with  the  usual  accesso- 
ries of  high  towers,  picturesque  ruins,  fantastic 
rocks,  or  anything  that  may  be  called  the  architec- 
ture of  moonlight  scenes.  Van  der  Neer,  who 
painted  the  figures  in  his  landscapes  himself,  has 
also  the  merit  of  finding  even  a  variety  in  such  mo- 


246  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

notorious  elements ;  he  is  fully  worthy  of  the  high 
renown  he  enjoys  at  present. 

Then,  when  England  had  as  yet  no  painters  nor 
painting,  it  was  natural  that  the  first  model  of  a 
marine  piece — of  the  landscape  of  the  sea — should 
be  given  by  the  fellow-countrymen  of  De  Euyter 
and  Van  Tromp.  Passing  by,  without  notice,  the 
first  attempts  in  this  branch — those  of  Peters,  or 
Zeeman  (Reinier  Mons)  for  instance — we  come  at 
once  to  the  two  masters  of  the  genre,  LUDOLF  BACK- 
HUYSEN  (1631-1709),  and  WILLIAM  VAN  DE  VELDE 
(1633-1707).  The  former,  who  was  a  writing  mas- 
ter before  becoming  the  pivpil  of  Everdingen,  gave, 
it  is  said,  lessons  in  marine  drawing  to  Peter  the 
Great  wrhen  he  wras  studying  naval  art  at  Saardam. 
His  most  celebrated  works  are — at  the  Hague,  the 
Return  of  William  of  Orange  as  William  III.  of  Eng- 
land ;  at  Amsterdam,  the  Embarkment  of  Jan  de 
Witt  on  the  Dutch  fleet ;  at  Vienna,  a  large  and 
magnificent  View  of  the  Port  of  Amsterdam;  at 
Paris,  the  Dutch  Squadron,  a  present  made  to  Louis 
XIV.  by  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam,  after  the 
peace  of  Nimeguen,  in  1678.  Backhuysen's  style  is 
rather  hard  and  dark  usually,  and  he  was  surpassed 
by  the  transparency  and  serenity  of  his  rival.  M. 
Charles  Blanc  says  correctly  :  "  Backhuysen  makes 
us  fear  the  sea,  Van  de  Velde  makes  us  love  it." 
William  Van  de  Velde,  the  worthy  brother  of 
Adrian,  is,  indeed,  the  uncontested  master  in  this 
genre.  The  Louvre  only  possesses  one  of  those 
charming  miniatures,  called  a  Calm,  of  Van  de 
Velde.  It  can  give  no  idea  of  the  greatest  works  of 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  247' 

this  master,  who,  being  all  his  life  a  lover  of  the  sea, 
painted  its  every  aspect,  as  a  mistress  whose  chang- 
ing beauty  takes,  like  the  guardian  of  Neptune's 
flocks,  a  thousand  different  forms,  and  whose  ca- 
prices and  fury  are  as  much  loved  as  her  serenity. 
These  fine  works  have  remained  in  Germany,  in 
England,  where  Van  de  Velde  died,  and  where  he  is 
still  adored,  and  especially  in  his  own  country, 
where,  amongst  others,  may  be  found  the  great 
View  of  Amsterdam,  taken  at  the  Y,  and  the  two 
celebrated  pendents  in  commemoration  of  the  naval 
Battle  of  Four  Days,  the  success  of  which  was  at. 
first  doubtful,  but  in  which  the  English  finally 
gained  an  advantage  over  De  Euyter  in  1666. 
To  enable  him  to  render  the  combat  with  greater 
fidelity,  the  painter  was  present  on  one  of  the  ves- 
sels of  the  Dutch  squadron,  making  his  plans  and 
sketches  in  the  midst  of  the  firing.  It  is  in  these 
masterpieces  of  William  Van  de  Velde  that  we  may 
find  the  greatest  perfection,  not  only  of  that  artist, 
but  of  all  that  branch  of  art  of  which  the  sea  is  the 
theatre  and  the  object.  They  enable  us  to  under- 
stand, though  without  agreeing  with,  the  saying  of 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  who  thought  that  another 
Raphael  might  some  day  arise,  but  that  the  world 
would  never  see  another  Van  de  Velde. 

After  him,  it  is  only  just  to  mention  VAN  DE  CA- 
PELLA  and  SIMON  DE  VLIEGEK,  who  sought  to  intro- 
,duce  the  manner  of  Cuyp  into  the  subjects  of  Van 
Je  Velde.  To  this  class  also  belongs  the  German 
JOHANN  LINGELBACH  (1625-1680),  who  became  a 
painter  of  the  Dutch  school.  His  subjects  are 


248  WONDEKS   OF  PAINTING. 

called  Sea  Ports ;  and  yet,  to  speak  correctly,  he 
neither  painted  the  sea  nor  the  ports,  but  the  scenes 
which  usually  take  place  there,  and  the  people  of  all 
kinds  and  nations  brought  there  by  commerce. 

Although  Fruit  and  Flowers  form  the  most  mod- 
est of  genres  in  painting,  yet  we  must  always  re- 
member that  difficulties  vanquished  and  extreme 
perfection  in  execution  may  raise  works  of  art  far 
above  their  subject.  Besides,  when  the  artist, 
instead  of  aspiring  to  moral  conceptions,  merely 
asks  a  model  for  imitation  from  nature,  what  can  be 
found  more  charming  than  fruit  and  flowers?  A 
proof  of  this  may  be  found  in  the  valuable  and 
much-sought-after  works  of  the  DE  HEEMS,  father 
and  son,  of  ABRAHAM  MIGNON,  EACHEL  EUYSCH 
(1674-1750),  and  VAN  HUYSUM  (1682-1749).  What 
could  be  superior  to  the  Breakfasts  of  Jan  David 
de  Heem  (1600-1674),  or  to  the  Baskets  of  Jan 
Van  Huysum  ?  The  latter  arranged  flowers  with  so 
much  taste  and  skill  that  flower  sellers  might  take 
lessons  in  their  trade  before  his  pictures  as  well  as 
painters  in  their  art.  These  smiling  Vases  of  Flow- 
ers, far  preferable  to  the  dark  Bouquets  of  Baptiste 
Monnoyer,  who  was  brought  forward  as  a  rival  to 
Van  Huysum,  in  the  time  of  Madame  de  Pom- 
padour, are  varied  and  improved  by  agreeable  acces- 
sories, such  as  the  vases  themselves  elaborately 
carved,  the  marble  stands,  and  brilliant  insects,  the 
flowers  of  animal  life.  Kachel  Kuysch  is  still  con- 
sidered the  rival  of  Van  Huysum.  She  was  not 
merely  the  only  female  artist  produced  by  the  Low 
Countries  since  the  sister  of  the  great  painter  of 


DUTCH  SCHOOL.  249 

Bruges,  Margaret  Van  Eyck ;  she  has  remained 
even  down  to  our  own  times  the  first  of  female 
painters. 

In  what  category  must  we  place  the  Kitclietis  of 
WILLIAM  KALF  (about  1630-1693)  ?  They  are  not 
even  pictures  of  dead  nature,  for  this  supposes  a  na- 
ture which  had  been  alive,  such  as  the  animals  killed 
in  the  chase  painted  by  Fyt  and  Weenix.  These 
are  pictures  of  inanimate  nature,  vegetables,  pots 
and  pans,  which  the  painter  places,  arranges,  and 
lights  up  at  his  pleasure.  And  yet  these  small  pic- 
tures of  a  little  known  and  perhaps  despised  master, 
to  be  met  with  in  no  great  museum,  unless  it  be  the 
Louvre,  are  real  works  of  art — I  was  almost  going 
to  add,  and  of  poetry.  A  sense  of  the  picturesque, 
a  light  and  sure  touch,  warm  coloring,  firm  drawing, 
and  even  intelligent  composition,  are  all  to  be  found 
in  them.  Where  can  the  art  and  the  poetry  have 
sprung  from  ? 

We  have  come  to  another  difficulty  in  classifica- 
tion. Where  are  we  to  place  Van  der  Werff? 
Whilst  the  degenerate  sons  of  Franz  Mieris  and  Ar- 
tus  Van  der  Neer,  named  Wilhem  and  Eglon,  were 
allowing  Dutch  art  to  die  out  in  minute  manner- 
isms, as  Carlo  Dolci  had  done  to  Florentine  art; 
when  the  only  true  painters  left  were  the  flower 
painters,  ADRIAN  VAN  DER  WERFF  (1659-1722)  flour- 
ished. In  his  very  numerous  works  it  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  find  any  differences,  any  pictures  better  or 
worse  than  the  others.  When  we  remember  the 
high  estimation  in  which  this  miller's  son  held  him- 
self (even  to  painting  his  own  portrait  with  the 


250  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

attributes  of  immortality) ;-  the  favor  of  the  elector 
palatine,  John  William,  who  enriched  and  ennobled 
him,  considering  him  far  superior  to  Eembrandt, 
the  other  miller's  son  ;  takirg  into  consideration, 
too,  the  celebrity  he  enjoyed  during  his  life,  the  high 
price  attached  to  the  works  of  his  pencil,  and  also 
the  pretentious  titles  of  his  compositions,  the  great- 
er part  historical  or  even  sacred,  Moses  saved  from 
the  Waters,  the  Angels  announcing  the  Glad  Tid- 
ings, the  Magdalen  in  the  Desert,  etc. ; — we  should 
be  inclined  to  give  him  the  rank  of  an  historical 
painter.  But  afterwards,  when  we  come  to  notice, 
besides  the  small  size  of  the  personages  crowded 
into  his  little  panels,  his  careful,  and  minute  manner 
of  painting,  mistaking  minuteness  for  grace,  and 
prettiness  for  beauty,  he  scarcely  deserves  the  name 
of  genre  painter.  Van  der  Werff,  by  wishing  to  rise 
above  his  masters,  has  sunk  in  his  ambitious  works 
to  a  ^ery  inferior  rank,  because  with  him  there  is 
such  a  flagrant  contradiction  between  the  subject 
and  the  execution,  the  execution  being  always  below 
the  subject. 

It  was  when  the  art  of  Holland  was  dying  out  in 
the  hands  of  Van  der  Werff  and  Van  Huysum 
that,  abandoning,  after  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  (1713), 
its  purely  popular  government,  Holland  was  taking 
hereditary  stadtholders,  who  soon  became  kings. 
Born  at  the  same  time  with  national  independence, 
Dutch  art  died  out  with  the  internal  liberty  of  the 
country.  This  suggests  a  reflection  on  the  relation 
which  can  and  must  exist  between  the  culture  of  art 
and  political  institutions. 


DUTCH   SCHOOL.  251 

A  monarchical  form  of  government  is  in  no  way 
indispensable  to  the  progress  of  the  arts  any  more 
than  to  the  glory  and  prosperity  of  artists.  This 
may  be  seen  in  Italy  by  the  example  of  Piedmont, 
which  remained  an  absolute  monarchy  until  1848, 
but  which  had  no  school  of  painting,  and  brought 
no  addition  to  the  common  glories  of  the  country ; 
by  the  Rome  of  the  popes,  which  was  only  the  seat 
of  a  school  during  the  time  that  Raphael  d'Urbino 
and  Michael  Augelo  lived  there  ;  also  from  the  exam- 
ple of  the  powerful  republic  of  Venice,  as  well  as  from 
that  of  independent  Florence  and  ancient  Athens, 
and,  indeed,  the  whole  of  Greece.  While  a  pope 
such  as  Adrian  VI.  drove  the  arts  and  those  that 
cultivated  them  from  Rome,  Venice  was  the  city 
preferred  by  a  number  of  artists  born  beyond  its 
walls,  but  who  thought,  with  the  sculptor  and  archi- 
tect Sansovino,  when  he  was  invited  to  Florence  by 
the  duke  Cosmo,  to  Ferrara  by  the  duke  Ercole, 
and  also  by  the  pope  Paul  III.,  "  that  having  the 
happiness  to  live  in  a  republic  it  would  be  madness 
to  go  to  live  under  an  absolute  prince  "  (Vasari). 

Holland  presents  a  more  recent  and  more  decisive 
example.  Of  Venice  and  Florence  it  may  be  said 
that,  instead  of  a  monarchy,  these  two  states  had 
rich  and  powerful  hereditary  aristocracies,  many  pa- 
trician palaces  instead  of  one  regal  or  papal  palace, 
and  many  small  courts  instead  of  one  sovereign 
court.  But  in  Holland  there  were  no  courts,  no 
palaces  of  any  kind ;  a  simple  burgher  population 
living  by  its  commerce,  fishing,  and  cattle.  And  yet 
no  country  in  such  a  small  territory,  and  with  such  a 


252  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

poor  population,  ever  produced  so  many  eminent  ar- 
tists. A  first  glance  suffices  to  show  us  for  what 
patrons  these  artists  labored.  Their  works  are  nei- 
ther frescoes  nor  large  pictures  destined  for  the 
naves  of  churches  or  the  galleries  of  castles,  but 
small  easel  pictures  which  could  be  placed  in  the 
smallest  cabinet  of  an  amateur.  The  subjects  are 
no  longer  taken  from  sacred  or  profane  poetry, 
which  require  extended  knowledge  and  cultivated 
taste  to  appreciate  them,  but  from  the  common  ac- 
tions and  scenes  of  every-day  life,  which  took  place 
every  day,  and  contained  secrets  from  no  one.  If  by 
any  chance  a  large  historical  picture  were  painted,  it 
was  intended  for  the  town  hall,  and  was  on  the  his- 
tory of  some  guild ;  if  a  religious  picture  were 
painted,  it  was  intended  as  a  sermon.  All  the  rest 
were  addressed  to  the  people,  and  the  artist  merely 
spoke  to  his  equals  in  the  usual  language  of  the 
country.* 

These  little  genre  pictures  have,  however,  nowa- 
days attained,  from  their  own  deserts  and  from  gen- 
eral taste,  an  enormous  value,  and  fetch  fabulous 
prices.  Artists  may  take  courage,  then,  from  the 
example  of  Holland,  as  well  as  from  that  of  Venice 
or  Athens,  in  looking  at  the  changes  which  the  spi- 

*  M.  A.  Michiels  has  made  the  ingenious  remark  that  the  histo- 
ry of  painting  in  the  Netherlands  offers  the  same  phases  as  that  of 
ancient  Greece  ;  to  the  divine  age,  corresponds  the  religious  paint- 
ing which  had  its  cradle  at  Bruges  in  the  times  of  Van  Eyck  and 
Memling  ;  to  the  heroic  age,  the  chivalrous  painting  of  Antwerp  in 
the  times  of  Rubens  and  his  school ;  to  the  human  age,  the  burgh- 
er painting,  inaugurated  by  Holland  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


DUTCH    SCHOOL.  253 


rit  of  the  century  may  produce  in  political  institu- 
tions. Under  the  Athenian  democracy,  under  the 
Venetian  oligarchy,  under  the  Dutch  bourgeoisie,  as 
well  as  under  a  monarchy,  they  will  ever  find  glory 
and  fortune  with  independence  and  dignity. 

Like  Belgium,  but  yet  more  quietly,  Holland,  in 
the  course  of  the  present  century,  has  resumed  its 
march  forward  in  the  general  movement  of  the  art. 
After  the  Flocks  of  JAN  KOBEL,  a  skillful  imitator  of 
Paul  Potter,  we  may  mention  the  Landscapes  of 
KOECKOCK,  the  Marine  Pieces  of  M.  MAYER,  the  An- 
ecdotal Scenes  of  MM.  ISRAELS  and  ALMA  TADEMA; 
and  on  the  public  square  of  Dordrecht  a  statue  has 
been  raised  to  another  child  of  Holland,  Ary  Schef- 
fer,  whom  we  shall  meet  again  amongst  the  French 
painters. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

FRENCH    SCHOOL. 

WE  can  trace  the  history  of  the  French  school  of 
painting  almost  as  far  back  as  the  history  of  France 
itself.  Emeric  David  (Histoire  de  la  Peinture  au 
Moyen  Age)  reminds  us  that  even  in  the  time  of 
Charlemagne  it  was  the  custom  to  cover  the  walls  of 
churches  with  paintings  (in  circuitu  dextra  Icevaque, 
intus  et  extra)  "in  order  to  instruct  the  people,  and 
to  decorate  the  buildings."  It  was  in  France,  about 
the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  that  painters  first 
endeavored  to  represent  the  Almighty  Father  Him- 
self in  human  form,  an  attempt  which  was  not  made 
in  Italy  before  the  thirteenth  century,  and  is  not  to 
be  found  at  all  in  Byzantine  painting.  Painting  on 
glass  for  church  windows  was  likewise  invented  or 
perfected  in  France.  A  great  number  of  French 
prelates  and  abbots  also  decorated  their  churches 
and  monasteries  with  paintings  of  all  sorts  ;  amongst 
these  were  the  bishops  Hincmar  of  Eeims,  Hoe'l  of 
Mans,  Geoffrey  of  Auxerre,  and  the  abbots  Angil- 
bert  of  Saint-Eiquier,  Ancesige  of  Fontenelle,  Rich- 
ard of  Saint-Venne,  and  Bernard  of  Saint-Sauveur. 
After  the  conquest  of  England  by  William  of  Nor- 
mandy the  French  carried  the  art  of  church  decora- 
tion, and  a  taste  for  it,  into  England  with  Lanfranc 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  255 

and  Anselm  of  Canterbury.  Tradition  has  even 
preserved  the  names  of  several  celebrated  French 
painters  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  greater  part  of 
whom  were  monks,  belonging  especially  to  the  order 
of  St.  Basil.  Of  this  number  were  Madalulphe  of 
Cambray,  Adelard  of  Louvain,  Ernulfe  of  Rouen, 
Herbert  and  Eoger  of  Reims,  and  Thiemon,  who 
was  also  a  sculptor  and  professor  of  the  fine  arts, 
etc.  But  all  these  crude  essays,  which  did  not  cul- 
minate in  a  national  art,  are  not  worthy  of  a  length- 
ened account. 

French  as  well  as  Spanish  art,  as  both  were  the 
pupils  of  Italy,  can  only  really  be  said  to  have  com- 
menced after  the  slow  and  laborious  development 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  when  all  the  knowledge  pos- 
sessed by  antiquity  reappeared  simultaneously,  and 
produced  the  revival  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Eenaissance. 

The  influence  which  Italy  exerted  on  French 
painting  made  itself  felt  as  early  as  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century.  Rene  of  Anjou,  Count  of 
Provence,  the  prince  successively  despoiled  of  Na- 
ples, Lorraine  and  Anjou,  and  who  consoled  himself 
for  his  political  disgraces  by  cultivating  poetry, 
music,  and  painting — this  good  King  Rene  (1408- 
1480)  learnt  painting  in  Italy,  either  at  Naples  under 
the  Zingaro,  when  disputing  the  crown  of  the  Two 
Sicilies  with  the  kings  of  Aragon,  or  at  Florence 
under  Bartolommeo  della  Gatta,  when  forming  an 
alliance  with  the  Duke  of  Milan  against  the  Vene- 
tians. "  He  composed,"  says  the  chronicler  Nostra- 
damus, "  several  beautiful  and  elegant  romances, 


256  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

such  as  La  Conqueste  de  la  Doulce  Merci  and  the 
Mortifement  de  Vaine  Plaisance,  but  he  loved  paiuting 
in  particular  with  a  passionate  love,  and  was  gifted 
by  nature  with  such  an  uncommon  aptitude  for  this 
noble  profession  that  he  was  famous  among  the 
most  excellent  painters  and  illuminators  of  his 
time,  which  may  be  perceived  by  several  master- 
pieces accomplished  by  his  divine  and  royal 
hand."  In  the  Cluny  Museum  there  is  a  picture  by 
Rene  which,  although  not  worthy  of  being  called  a 
divine  masterpiece  of  the  period  that  had  produced 
Fra  Angelico  de  Fiesole  and  Masaccio,  is  yet  valu- 
able and  remarkable.  The  subject  is  the  Preaching 
of  the  Magdalen  at  Marseilles,  where  tradition  asserts 
that  she  was  the  first  to  proclaim  the  Gospel.  In 
the  background,  and  in  Chinese  perspective,  is  the 
port  of  the  old  Phocian  colony ;  in  the  foreground 
is  the  audience  of  the  converted  sinner,  in  which 
Rene  has  introduced  himself  with  his  wife  Jeanne 
de  Laval.  The  scene  is  well  conceived,  clear  and 
animated.  The  painting,  rather  dry,  but  precise, 
recalls  Antonio  Salario,  the  Neapolitan  Zingaro. 
However,  these  early  lessons  from  Italians,  taken  in 
Italy,  were  simply  individual,  and  the  artist-prince 
who  received  them  did  not  transmit  them  to  others, 
nor  did  he  establish  a  school  of  art,  even  in  his  own 
country  of  Provence.  At  this  period  there  were 
still  only  ymaigiers  at  Paris,  the  most  celebrated  of 
whom,  perhaps,  Jacquemin  Gringonneur,  painted 
packs  of  cards  to  afford  Charles  VI.  an  easy  amuse- 
ment in  the  lucid  intervals  which  his  madness 
allowed  him.  Gringonneur  has  been  called  the 


FRENCH  SCHOOL.  257 

inventor  of  cards  ;  but  this  invention,  which  is  also 
attributed  to  another  ymaigier,  Nicolas  Pepyn,  be- 
longs to  a  much  earlier  period ;  it  dates  back  as 
far  as  the  thirteenth  century.  A  little  later,  under 
the  reigns  of  Charles  VII.  and  Louis  XI.,  appeared 
a  real  painter,  JEHAN  FOUQUET,  born  at  Tours,  be- 
tween 1415-1420,  who  painted  the  portrait  of  Pope 
Eugenius  IV.  at  Home,  and  studied  the  Italian 
artists  of  the  time  of  Masaccio.  But  his  works,  or 
at  least  those  of  them  which  remain,  and  are  to  be 
found  at  Munich,  Frankfort,  and  in  the  large  library 
at  Paris,  are  composed  only  of  manuscript  ornament- 
ation, so  that  Fouquet  is  merely  a  superior  ymaigier. 
He  brings  us  in  Gothic  art  down  to  FRANCOIS 
CLOUET  (called  Janet),  a  contemporary  of  those  who 
studied  art  in  Italy,  but  himself  a  distant  disciple  of 
Van  Eyck,  through  the  lessons  of  his  father  Jehan 
Cloet,  who  was  of  Flemish  descent.  There  are  in 
the  Louvre  by  Francois  Clouet,  the  portraits  of 
Charles  IX.  and  of  his  wife  Elizabeth  of  Austria, 
which  are  truthful  and  of  wonderful  delicacy.  Be- 
sides the  portraits  of  Henry  II. ,  of  Henry  IV.  as  a 
child,  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  le  Balqfre,  of  the  wise 
chancellor  Michel  de  VHopital,  etc.,  all  of  a  small  size, 
there  are  also  two  small  compositions  formed  by 
several  portraits  in  a  group ;  one  is  of  the  Marriage 
of  Margaret  of  Lorraine,  sister  of  the  Guises,  with 
Duke  Anne  of  Joy  ease ;  the  other  is  a  Court  Ball, 
at  which  Henry  III.,  then  king,  his  mother,  Cathe- 
rine de  Medici,  young  H  nry  of  Navarre,  and  other 
personages  of  the  time,  are  present.  These  pictures, 
which  are  as  valuable  to  the  history  of  France  as  the 


258  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

chronicles  of  Monstrelet  or  the  journals  of  L'Estoile, 
are  no  less  precious  to  the  history  of  painting  as 
the  memorials  of  an  art  of  which  they  were  the 
latest  expression. 

The  real  imitation  of  the  Italian  school,  and 
through  that  the  formation  of  a  French  school  of- 
painting,  may  be  traced  back  to  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  Italian  art  had  already  attained 
to  the  dazzling  splendor  of  its  noon  when  the  first 
beams  of  its  light  fell  upon  France.  It  was  not. 
until  after  the  military  expeditions  of  Charles  VIII., 
of  Louis  XII.,  and  of  Francis  I.,  when  the  French 
had  traversed  the  whole  of  the  Italian  peninsula, 
from  Milan  to  Naples,  and  were  filled  with  surprise 
and  admiration  before  the  buildings  and  their  decor- 
ations, when  Francis  I.  brought  to  Paris  some  fine 
works  of  art,  and  collected  great  artists  around  him, 
that  from  the  contact  with  them,  and  through  their 
influence,  France  at  length  awoke. 

Leonardo  da  Vinci  and  Andrea  del  Sarto,  by  their 
brilliant  reputation  and  by  means  of  their  works ; 
Rossi  (maitre  Eoux)  Primaticcio,  Niccolo  del  Abbate, 
etc.,  by  the  practical  lessons  which  they  gave,  and 
by  the  great  works  which  they  completed  in  their 
adopted  country,  founded  the  first  French  school, 
which  is  called  the  school  of  Fontainebleau.  The 
first  French  painter  who  rose  to  a  level  with  them 
by  means  ol  their  lessons,  and  who  carried  painting 
to  the  same  rank  to  which  Jean  Goujon  and  Ger- 
main Pilot  had  raised  statuary  and  Pierre  Lescot, 
Jean  Bullant,  and  Philibert  Delorrne,  architecture, 
was  JEAN  COUSIN  (about  1500-1590).  Unfortunately, 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  259 

he  was  more  occupied  with  painting  church  windows 
than  with  his  easel ;  and,  as  he  devoted  a  part  of 
his  time  to  engraving  (he  has  left  three  celebrated 
prints,  amongst  others,  St.  Paul  on  the  road  to  Damas- 
cus), to  sculpture  (his  Mausoleum  of  Admiral  Chabot, 
in  alabaster,  is  still  preserved),  and  even  to  literature 
(he  has  written  the  True  Science  of  Portraiture,  or 
-the  Art  of  Drawing,  the  Book  of  Perspective,  etc.), 
Jean  Cousin  has  left  but  a  small  number  of  paint- 
ings. The  principal  of  these  is  a  Last  Judgment, 
and  it  is  doubtless  the  similarity  of  subject,  rather 
than  of  style  or  manner,  which  has  given  its  author 
the  name  of  the  French  Michael  Angela.  Although 
it  was  the  first  picture  by  a  French  artist  which  had 
the  honor  of  being  engraved,  this  masterpiece  of 
Jean  Cousin  was  for  a  long  time  lost  and  forgotten 
in  the  Sacristy  of  Minimes  at  Vincennes.  It  has 
now  found  a  worthy  place  in  the  Louvre.  As  far  as 
a  number  of  small  figures  assembled  in  an  easel  pic- 
ture can  be  compared  to  the  gigantic  figures  cover- 
ing the  wall  of  the  Sistine,  so  much  may  Jean  Cousin 
be  said  to  resemble  Michael  Angelo.  The  whole  is 
harmonious,  although  powerful  and  terrible;  the 
groups  are  skillfully  formed  and  varied  ;  the  nudes, 
a  new  thing  in  France,  are  well  studied  and  well 
rendered,  and  these  merits  of  composition  and  draw- 
ing are  enhanced  by  a  warm  Venetian  coloring,  and 
still  more  so,  by  a  unity  and  symmetry  of  thought 
which  is  wanting  in  the  model.  As  Michael  An- 
gelo finished  his  celebrated  fresco  in  1541,  it  is 
probable  that  Jean  Cousin  treated  this  vast  subject 
of  the  final  drama  of  humanity  at  a  later  period, 


260  WONDERS    OF  PAINTING. 

though  following  the  same  manner  as  Michael  An* 
gelo,  for  he  would  have  been  able  before  leaving 
France  to  become  acquainted  with  the  Last  Judg- 
ment of  the  Vatican  by  copies  or  engravings,  amongst 
others,  that  by  Martin  Eota.  But  his  version  of  the 
same  subject  was  at  least  a  very  free  one,  composed 
of  different  details,  and  with  a  totally  different 
spirit  running  through  it.  The  audacity,  too,  of  at- 
tempting such  a  subject  in  imitation  of  the  great 
Florentine,  which  yet  has  been  justified  by  success, 
gives  him  such  a  high  place  in  art,  that  he  is  usually 
called  the  founder  of  the  French  school. 

The  impetus  received  and  transmitted  by  this 
great  artist  was  felt  by  the  whole  school.  After  him 
there  came  two  other  eminent  disciples  of  the  Ital- 
ians, TOUSSAINT  DUBREUIL  (.  .  .-1604)  and  MARTIN 
FREMINET  (1567-1619).  But  Dubreuil,  like  Jean 
Cousin,  did  not  leave  his  native  country ;  he  simply 
followed  on  the  steps  of  the  Italian  master.  Prima- 
tice,  who  gave  himself  up  to  France  without  re- 
turning to  his  own  land,  and  who,  in  exchange  for 
his  works  and  lessons,  received  from  four  kings — 
Francis  L,  Henry  II.,  Francis  II.,  and  Charles  IX. 
— various  titles  and  rewards,  amongst  others  two 
fat  abbeys.  Freminet,  on  the  contrary,  preferred 
visiting  Italy  for  himself.  He  brought  back  with 
him,  after  a  long  sojourn  in  Italy,  the  taste  which 
prevailed  there  at  the  close  of  the  great  age,  a  little 
before  the  foundation  of  the  Carracci  school.  Leav- 
ing the  calm  and  simple  beauty  which  Leonardo 
da  Vinci,  Raphael  and  Correggio  had  taught,  he 
adopted,  like  the  mistaken  imitators  of  Michael 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  261 

Angelo,  an  ostentatious  display  of  the  science  of 
anatomy,  and  a  mania  for  foreshortening.  To  this 
exaggerated  drawing  also  he  united  a  harder  and 
darker  coloring  than  was  employed  by  Primatice  in 
his  graceful  frescoes.  At  the  same  time  his  great 
picture  in  the  Louvre  (either  the  Venus  waiting  for 
Mars,  who  is  disarmed  by  Cupids,  or  jEneas  aban- 
doning Dido  by  order  of  Mercury)  is  remarkable  for 
several  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  because,  after 
the  small  figures  of  Clouet  and  Cousin,  he  painted 
his  figures  the  size  of  life,  and  also,  that,  after  a  long 
and  continuous  series  of  sacred  subjects,  he  sud- 
denly, like  the  painters  of  the  age  of  Leo  X.  in 
Italy,  produced  a  mythological  love  scene.  We 
recognize  in  him  the  soul  of  the  satirical  Maturin 
Kegnier,  of  whom  Boileau  said : 

"Heureux  si  ses  discours,  craints  du  chaste  lecteur, 
Ne  se  sentaient  des  lieux-ou  frequentait  1'auteur." 

"We  see,  also,  that  besides  imitating  Primatice,  he 
imitated  the  master  of  Primatice,  Giulio  Eomano, 
when  the  Lost  Angel,  abandoning  the  style  of  Ra- 
phael, degraded  himself  to  the  obscene  engraving  of 
Aretin. 

This  was  almost  sufficient  to  have  thrown  the 
French  school,  even  in  its  infancy,  into  the  prema- 
ture decay  in  which  Italian  art  was  languishing. 
Fortunately  SIMON  VOUET  (1590-1649)  returned  to 
accomplish  in  France  the  renovation  caused  by  the 
Carracci  in  Italy.  Vouet  had  been,  from  his  earliest 
youth,  remarkable  for  his  precocious  talents  ;  after 
fourteen  years'  residence  at  Rome  he  carried  with 


262  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

him  the  lessons  of  the  Bolognese  school  to  Paris* 
In  his  great  composition,  the  Presentation  in  the 
Temple — in  the  Entombment,  the  Madonna,  the  Roman 
Charity  (a  young  woman  feeding  an  old  man),  etc., 
we  trace  clearly  the  influence  of  the  Bolognese 
school,  although  he  possesses  neither  the  profound 
expression  of  Domenichino,  the  elegance  of  Guido, 
nor  the  powerful  chiaroscuro  of  Guercino.  The  style 
of  his  masters  is  impaired  by  poorness  of  design  and 
insufficiency  of  coloring — in  short,  by  too  much 
haste ;  for  Vou-et,  who  soon  became  the  first  painter 
of  Louis  XIII.,  to  whom  he  gave  lessons,  being 
overwhelmed  with  honors  and  laden  with  orders, 
accepted,  through  ambition  and  covetousness,  labors 
beyond  his  power  to  perform  in  the  time.  Pictures 
for  churches  or  palaces,  portraits,  ceilings,  wainscot- 
ings,  tapestry,  all  were  undertaken  in  order  to  keep 
the  work  from  others  ;  and  in  this  universal  mo- 
nopoly his  early  talent,  instead  of  increasing  with 
riper  age,  was  continually  decreasing.  But  we  must 
do  him  the  justice  to  add  that  it  was  his  lessons  and 
example  which  formed  Eustache  Lesueur,  Charles 
Lebrun,  and  Pierre  Mignard  ;  and  that  thus,  like  the 
Carracci,  he  was  greater  through  his  pupils  than 
through  his  own  works. 

At  Rome  Simon  Vouet  had  been  chief  of  the 
Academy  of  St.  Luke  ;  at  Paris  he  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  that  association  of  artists  who,  long  un- 
easy at  the  pretensions  of  house-painters,  united 
their  efforts  to  raise  art  above  the  attacks  of  trade. 
This  association  was  first  patronized  by  Richelieu, 
then  by  Mazarin,  and  at  last  became,  in  1658, 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  263 

through  the  patents  which  the  all-powerful  minister 
made  young  Louis  XIV.  sign,  the  Academy  of  Paint- 
ing,  the  members  of  which  had  the  exclusive  privi- 
lege of  painting  and  teaching  without  paying  the 
usual  fee.  This  academy  was  certainly  good  in  its 
origin  and  object,  since  it  procured  the  professional 
independence  of  the  artists.  But,  once  constituted 
by  royal  decree,  it  had  the  faults  and  the  fate  of  all 
privileged  bodies.  On  one  side  it  was  imperious  and 
tyrannical ;  on  the  other,  although  useful  to  its 
members,  it  was  profoundly  useless  as  regarded  art 
in  general.  We  will,  therefore,  leave  the  first  aca- 
demical associates  of  Simon  Vouet,  commencing  with 
his  two  brothers,  Aubin  and  Claude,  and  including 
the  professor,  Francois  Perrier  and  Jacques  Blanch- 
ard,  the  latter  of  whom  is  called  the  French  Titian, 
because  he  had,  say  his  biographers,  "  a  light  and 
clear  coloring."  We  will  seek  outside  the  Academy 
for  free  and  truthful  art. 

The  dates  bring  us  first  to  the  entirely  original 
genius  of  JACQUES  CALLOT  of  Lorraine  (1592-1635), 
an  enemy  to  all  discipline,  who  would  have  fled  from 
the  Academy,  as  he  did  from  his  father's  house  in 
the  train  of  a  troop  of  mountebanks,  in  order  to 
give  free  course  to  his  fancy  in  the  open  fields. 
But,  entirely  occupied  with  etching  according  to 
processes  of  his  own  invention,  the  conception  of  an 
undying  imagination — his  Beggars,  Gipsies,  Nobles, 
Devils  and  scenes  descriptive  of  the  Miseries  of  War, 
which  were  only  crayon  drawings,  Callot  has  fin- 
ished a  very  small  number  of  paintings.  Thus, 
while  he  has  left  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  engrav- 


264  WONDEBS   OF  PAINTING. 

ings,  both  large  and  small,  I  have  not  met  with  more 
than  two  pictures  bearing  his  name,  the  Military 
Execution,  at  Dresden,  and  the  Village  Fair,  at 
Vienna ;  both  are  on  copper,  with  very  small  figures, 
and  such  pale  coloring  that  at  the  first  glance  one  is 
not  favorably  impressed.  Callot's  talent  has  re- 
mained so  thoroughly  sui  generis  that  he  has  had  no 
more  descendants  than  ancestors.  He  was  a  great 
artist,  who  has  no  place  in  the  history  of  the  fine 
arts,  even  of  his  own  country. 

But  now,  far  beyond  the  influence  of  the  court, 
the  Academy,  and  even  out  of  France,  there  ap- 
peared the  prince  of  her  artists,  the  chief  of  her 
school,  NICOLAS  POUSSIN  (1594-1665).  An  admirable 
example  of  the  power  of  natural  taste,  Poussin,  who 
was  almost  without  a  master,  remained  a  long  time 
without  a  patron.  Braving  poverty,  although  twice 
interrupted  by  it  on  his  way  to  Italy,  he  at  length 
reached  Rome  on  foot  and  almost  destitute.  Here 
his  talent  was  first  developed  before  the  masterpieces 
of  past  ages  ;  and  although  at  a  subsequent  period 
the  king  recalled  him  to  Paris,  in  order  to  add  the 
lustre  of  a  great  painter  to  his  own  fame,  Poussin 
soon  tired  of  the  annoyances  caused  by  the  Court 
painters  and  the  Court  fools,  and  went  back  to  his 
dear  hermitage  at  Borne,  which  he  did  not  again 
leave,  not  even  bequeathing  his  ashes  to  his  native 
country.  There,  in  solitary  study,  and  always 
avoiding,  with  a  force  of  judgment  in  which  he  is 
scarcely  equalled,  the  bad  taste  of  his  country  and 
of  his  time,  he  progressed  step  by  step  towards  per- 
fection, Iu  the  rage  for  expressing  in  one  title  all 


FKENCH  SCHOOL.  265 

the  merits  of  an  illustrious  man,  Poussin  has  been 
called  the  painter  of  intelkct.  This  name  is  just,  es- 
pecially if  it  were  meant  to  convey  the  idea  that 
Poussin  is  above  the  ignorant  crowd,  that  he  can 
only  be  understood  and  admired  by  high  and  culti- 
vated intellects.  But  the  name  is  incomplete.  To 
the  exquisite  feeling  for  the  antique,  which  he  seems 
intuitively  to  have  possessed,  Poussin  unites  all  the 
science  of  his  time.  Whilst  he  consulted  untiringly 
the  monuments  and  models  of  his  art,  the  great 
works  of  great  masters,  both  in  Greece  and  Italy,  he 
studied  architecture  in  Vitruvius  and  Palladio — 
anatomy  in  Andreas  Vessalius  and  the  dissecting 
amphitheatres — style,  in  the  Bible,  Homer,  Plutarch, 
and  Corneille — logic  in  Plato  and  Descartes — and 
lastly,  nature,  in  all  the  beings  and  objects  she  offers 
for  imitation.  He  borrowed  from  philosophy,  mo- 
rality, history,  poetry,  the  drama — from  everything, 
in  fact,  which  could  give  power,  grandeur,  and 
charm  to  painting;  and,  being  himself  a  deep 
thinker  and  an  inflexible  logician,  he  carried  thought 
and  logic  further  than  any  other  painter  into  the 
realm  of  art.  This  is  certainly  more  than  being  an 
intellectual  painter. 

The  only  reproach  which  the  traducers  of  Pous- 
sin in  the  French  school  have  been  able  to  bring 
against  him  is,  that  he  is  wanting  in  grace.  Cer- 
tainly in  the  execution  of  his  most  usual  subjects,  in 
those  amongst  others  of  the  pictures  in  France,  he 
showed  rather  the  gravity  and  austerity  natural  to 
his  genius,  and  which  are,  more  than  at  first  sight 
Appears,  if  not  in  the  French  character,  at  least  in 


266  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

its  genius.  But  he  has  shown  grace,  and  even  play- 
ful grace,  when  it  was  suitable.  To  be  convinced  of 
this  it  is  only  necessary  to  examine  some  of  his 
numerous  bacchanalian  scenes.  Two  of  his  best 
are  in  the  National  Gallery  in  London.  One  is  a 
forcible  painting,  simply  called  a  Bacchanalian  Dance, 
but  varied  and  full  of  pleasant  incident,  all  the  fig- 
ures in  which  are  in  keeping  and  harmony,  from  the 
nymph  tripped  up  by  the  satyr,  to  the  little  tipsy 
children  quarrelling  for  the  cup  into  which  a  bac- 
chante is  squeezing  some  grapes.  The  other,  al- 
though less  finished  in  execution,  is  one  of  the  most 
important  works  of  Poussin,  who  shared  the  love  of 
the  ancients  for  this  subject.  The  details  are  grace- 
ful and  spirited,  and,  being  perfectly  harmonious, 
form  a  most  charming  comedy.  Here  we  see  the 
fat,  tipsy  Silenus,  supported  with  difficulty  by  two 
fauns  ;  there,  a  gay  and  animated  dance ;  further 
off,  an  insolent  ass  attacks  the  haunches  of  a  cen- 
taur, who  punishes  him  with  a  stick  for  his  impu- 
dence ;  then  a  laughing  female  satyr  endeavoring  to 
ride  on  a  refractory  goat.  In  fact,  all  the  ancient 
comedy  is  revived  in  this  picture,  so  that  we  could 
almost  fancy  it  a  representation  of  one  of  those  gay 
and  riotous  Atellance  brought  into  Home  from  the 
Campania. 

With  regard  to  the  other  subjects  treated  by 
Poussin,  Paris  has  no  reason  to  envy  London  or 
any  other  country,  as  she  possesses  his  master- 
pieces. We  will  first  examine  Poussin' s  portrait,  by 
himself,  taken,  when  56  years  of  age,  for  his  friend 
Chantelou,  the  only  one  which  he  would  have  taken 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  267 

if  liis  patron  at  Rome,  Cardinal  Rospigliosi  (after- 
wards Clement  IX.)  had  not  sometime  later  ordered 
one  of  himself.  The  inscription  placed  on  the  tomb 
of  Poussin,  Li  tabuds  vivlt  et  eloquitur,  might  also  be 
written  over  this  portrait,  for  we  can  clearly  trace 
in  it  the  artist's  soul,  the  nature  of  his  genius,  and 
the  character  of  his  works.  We  find  in  the  modest 
dignity  of  his  noble  countenance  a  powerful  intel- 
lect, a  strong  will,  and  a  great  power  of  application, 
which  justifies  the  saying  of  Buffon,  that  "  genius 
consists  of  a  great  power  of  attention." 

At  the  Louvre  there  are  some  immense  pictures 
by  Poussin,  with  full-length  figures :  The  Last  Sup- 
per, Francis  Xavier  in  India,  and  Tie  Virgin  appear- 
ing to  St.  Jolm.  The  only  one  of  this  size  in  exist- 
ence out  of  France  is  the  Martyrdom  of  St.  Erasmus, 
the  pendent  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  to  the  Martyr- 
dom of  St.  Processo,  by  his  friend  Valentin.  But 
these  large  pictures  are  by  no  means  the  greatest 
works  of  Poussin.  Loving  to  restrict  a  vast,  or, 
rather,  a  profound  subject,  to  a  small  space,  Poussin 
seems  to  wax  greater  as  his  difficulties  increase, 
and  his  best  works  are  certainly  simple  easel-pic- 
tures, which  would  belong  only  to  anecdotal  paint- 
ing if  they  did  not  also  possess  in  the  highest  degree 
all  the  qualities  of  historical  art. 

Having  now  come  to  the  real  domain  of  Poussin, 
we  may  classify  his  works  by  their  subjects,  or,  as 
he  himself  said,  by  modes.  He  designated  by  this 
name,  in  the  manner  of  the  Greeks,  the  style,  color, 
measure — in  fact,  the  general  arrangement  of  a  pic- 
ture according  to  its  subject.  The  religious  compo 


268  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

sitions  are  taken  from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
Among  those  from  the  former,  we  must  notice  the 
charming  group  of  Rebecca  at  the  Well,  when  Eliezer, 
Abraham's  messenger,  recognizes  her  among  her 
companions,  and  offers  her  the  ring ;  Moses  exposed 
on  the  Nile  by  his  mother  and  sister ;  Moses  saved 
from  the  Water  by  Thermutis,  the  daughter  of 
Pharaoh  ;  the  Manna  in  the  Desert,  a  scene  admira- 
ble in  the  grandeur  of  the  whole,  and  the  interest 
of  the  details  ;  and  lastly,  the  Judgment  of  Solomon9 
the  decision  between  the  two  mothers. 

We  must  also  class  amongst  the  Old  Testament 
subjects  the  four  celebrated  pendents  named  Spring, 
Summer,  Avtumn,  and  Winter,  but  which  are  far 
better  known  by  the  names  of  the  subjects  chosen 
to  represent  the  seasons  allegoric  ally.  Spring  is 
typified  by  Adam  and  Eve  in  Paradise,  before  their 
fall ;  summer,  by  Ruth  gleaning  in  the  field  of  Boaz ; 
autumn,  by  the  Return  of  the  Spies  from  the  Promised 
Land,  bringing  back  the  wonderful  bunch  of  grapes, 
which  two  men  can  scarcely  carry  ;  winter,  by  the 
Deluge.  There  is  no  need  of  any  word  of  explana- 
tion or  praise  for  this — it  would  be  an  insult  to  the 
reader.  This  painting  was  Poussin's  last  work ; 
he  was  71  when  he  painted  it,  and  he  died  soon 
afterwards. 

Amongst  the  subjects  taken  from  the  Gospels  and 
from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  we  must  call  atten- 
tion to  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  the  Repose  in 
Egypt,  the  Blind  Men  of  Jericho,  the  Woman  taken  in 
Adultery,  the  Death  of  Sapphira,  the  St.  Paul  caught 
up  into  the  Seventh  Heavens.  But  Poussin  did  not 


FRENCH    SCHOOL.  269 

confine  himself  to  biblical  subjects,  which  he  treated 
•frith  philosophical  freedom  and  in  a  purely  human 
character ;  he  also,  like  all  the  great  masters,  treated 
subjects  from  profane  history,  as  the  Will  of  Euda- 
midas,  in  England,  and  the  Rape  of  the  Sabines,  at 
Paris ;  he  entered  the  regions  of  pure  mythology, 
as  may  be  seen  by  the  Death  of  Eurydice  and  the 
Triumph  of  Flora,  at  Paris.  He  also  treated  some- 
times of  allegory,  for  instance  the  Triumph  of  Truth, 
which  he  left,  as  a  proud  homage  to  his  own  genius, 
when  he  quitted  France,  a  victim  to  envy,  without 
hope  of  return.  Lastly,  he  penetrated,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  into  the  license  of  bacchanalian 
scenes.  But  whatever  he  undertook,  or  from  what- 
ever source  his  subjects  were  taken,  Poussin  was 
always  an  historical  painter. 

He  was  so  even  in  his  landscapes,  as  if  he  had  no 
idea  that  nature  could  be  represented  alone  and 
without  man.  When,  by  the  power  of  his  genius, 
he  has  revived  one  of  the  primitive  landscapes 
trodden  by  the  gods  and  heroes,  he  brings  into  it 
the  giant  Polyphemus, 

"Sur  son  roc  assis, 
Chantant  aux  vents  ses  anioureux  soucis  ;" 

and  when  he  is  painting  a  landscape  in  the  vicinity 
of  Athens  he  introduces  the  figure  of  the  cynic 
philosopher  Diogenes  throwing  away  his  bowl  as 
superfluous  on  seeing  a  boy  drink  out  of  his  hand, 
or  else,  in  the  picture  which  Fenelon  describes,  the 
philosophical  warrior  Phocion,  to  whom  good  sense 
and  a  love  of  the  public  weal  gave  such  natural 
eloquence  that  Demosthenes,  seeing  him  ascend  the 


270  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

tribune,  said :  "  It  is  the  axe  of  my  discourses  which 
has  risen."  When  he  wishes  to  show,  in  the  smiling 
and  pastoral  Arcadia,  the  image  of  earthly  happi- 
ness, a  tomb  amongst  the  flowers  reminds  us  that 
life  must  have  a  termination.  Certainly,  in  this 
career  of  historical  landscape  painting  Poussin  was 
preceded  by  Annibale  Carracci  and  Domenichino, 
but  he  carried  it  much  further  than  they,  and  al- 
though he  is  not  the  inventor  of  the  genre,  he  is  still 
the  uncontested  master  in  it.  He  has  been  followed 
not  only  by  the  direct  disciples  of  his  works,  such 
as  the  Guastre  (Gaspard  Dughet),  Jacques  Stella, 
or  Francisque  Milet,  but  also  by  all  those,  in  any 
country,  who,  without  copying  from  nature,  have 
chosen  it  for  the  scene  of  some  human  drama. 

In  all  languages  there  are  words  which  cannot  be 
defined,  which  carry  their  own  definition  in  them. 
In  all  the  careers  of  the  human  mind  there  are 
names  which  need  no  praise,  but  which  suffice  for 
their  own  eulogy.  Poussin  is  of  this  happy  number. 
I  shall  only  observe  that  there  is  not,  perhaps,  in 
any  school  of  painting,  a  master  the  mere  sight  of 
whose  works — well  studied  and  understood,  how- 
ever— is  more  capable  of  explaining  the  three  words 
so  difficult  to  define,  though  so  often  repeated — 
style,  composition,  and  expression.  For  style,  we 
may  examine  the  Rcivissement  de  St.  Paul,  when,  in 
his  ecstasy,  "  he  heard  words  unlawful  for  a  man  to 
utter."'  This  magnificent  group,  crowning  a  deli- 
cious landscape,  reminds  us,  by  the  grandeur  of  the 
figures,  of  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  the  chief  of 
the  Roman  school,  the  Vision  of  EzekieL  Poussin 


TOENOH   SCHOOL.  273 

feared  being  accused  of  having  wished  to  excite 
comparison  with  Raphael.  The  almost  inexplicable 
science  of  composition  may  be  studied  in  the  Rebecca, 
and  Moses  saved  from  the  Waters  :  it  is  carried  to  the 
greatest  height  in  the  Shepherds  of  Arcadia,  a 
charming  pastoral,  full  of  deep  poetry  and  touching 
morality.  To  surprise  the  secrets  of  movement  and 
expression,  we  have  only  to  look  at  the  Judgment 
of  Solomon,  the  Woman  taken  in  Adultery,  and  the 
Blind  Men  of  Jericho.  For  the  union  of  these  differ- 
ent and  superior  Dualities  of  painting  we  must  come 
to  the  Deluge,  where  art  may  be  seen  to  perfection. 

There  is  one  name  inseparable  from  that  of  Pous- 
sin.  This  is  CLAUDE  GELEE,  of  Lorraine  (1600-1682,) 
a  Frenchman  also  by  birth,  and  an  Italian  by  his 
studies  and  his  adopted  country.  Although  he  did 
not  resemble  Poussin  in  learning,  as  he  scarcely 
knew  how  to  read  or  to  sign  his  name,*  Claude,  at 
all  events,  resembled  him  in  his  pertinacity  at  work, 
his  power  of  application,  and,  in  his  own  fashion,  by 
his  depth  of  thought,  as  well  as  by  his  correctness 
of  observation.  He  also  received  a  surname,  the 
Raphael  of  landscape  painting.  And  this  surname  is, 
for  once,  appropriate.  Claude  is  certainly  the 
Raphael  of  his  genre,  because  in  it  no  one  has  ever 
seriously  disputed  the  first  place  with  him,  and  still 


*  This  is  the  inscription  he  wrote,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  on  the 
collection  of  his  sketches,  called  the  *  Book  of  Truth  :' 

"AUDI  10  D'AGOSTO  1677. 

"  LE  PRESENT  UVEE  APPABTIEN  A  MOT  QUE  JE  FAICT  DUBANT  MA  VIE 

"C/LATTDIO  GlLLEE,  DIT  LE  LiOBBAINS 

"A  ROMA,  LE  23  Aos  1680." 


274  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

more,  because,  like  Kaphael — whose  divine  Madonnas, 
while  possessing  the  proportions  of  woman,  had  yet 
no  models  in  the  human  race,  and  seem  to  unite 
every  possible  beauty — he  has  created  to  a  certain 
extent  a  nature,  not  true,  but  merely  possible — a 
poetical,  ideal  nature,  taken  rather  from  the  dreams 
of  the  artist  than  from  any  real  scene,  uniting  also 
the  most  lovely  features  of  many  scenes,  and  there- 
fore more  beautiful  than  simple  nature.  So  that  he, 
as  well  as  Raphael,  has  actually  deserved  the  out- 
rageous flattery  which  Shakespeare,  in  Timon  of 
Athens,  makes  the  poet  say  ironically  of  the  painter's 
picture  :  "  It  tutors  nature." 

Less  fortunate  than  with  the  works  of  Poussin, 
France  has  not  retained  the  best  of  Claude's  pic- 
tures. There  was  formerly  in  the  Louvre  one  of  his 
principal  works,  universally  admired  and  celebrated. 
It  was  called  the  Ford.  This  beautiful  picture  has 
perished  under  the  hands  of  restorers,  by  order  of 
the  authorities.  These  barbarians  seem  to  have 
been  ignorant  that  no  restoration  could  improve 
Claude,  and  that  every  profane  hand  that  approaches 
him  is  guilty  of  sacrilege.  We  might  have  forgiven 
it,  however,  if  this  victim  had  served  as  an  example 
or  lesson.  But  those  in  authority  never  take  warn- 
ing from  the  mistakes  of  others.  The  directors  of 
the  National  Gallery  have,  since  the  destruction  of 
the  Ford,  also  restored,  and  consequently  spoiled, 
two  still  more  important  works  of  Claude,  called  the 
Embarcation  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  and  the  Marriage 
of  Isaac  and  Rebecca.  Now  that  the  galleries  of 
France  and  England  have  done  all  they  could  in 


FRENCH  SCHOOL.  277 

taking  the  charms  of  poetry  from  these  pictures,  we 
could  have  consoled  ourselves  for  the  disgrace  by 
witnessing  that  of  our  rivals,  if  the  Spaniards  had 
not  said  that  the  misfortunes  of  others  are  only  a 
consolation  to  fools. 

Leaving  these  regrets,  which  are  useless  as  well 
as  superfluous,  let  us  see  what  remains  in  the  Lou- 
vre. In  the  first  place,  there  are  two  small  round 
pictures,  of  the  form  of  the  lunettes  of  Annibale  Car- 
racci,  a  calm  Landscape  and  a  Marine  piece,,  glittering 
with  the  rays  of  the  noonday  sun,  which  Claude 
alone,  like  the  eagle,  dared  to  face  ;  then  an  inter- 
esting view  of  the  Campo  Vaccino  at  Home  (that  is 
to  say,  the  ancient  forum  where  the  affairs  of  the 
world  were  formerly  transacted,  now  used  as  a 
cattle  market); — then  two  pendents,  also  a  Marine 
piece  and  a  Landscape  of  rather  larger  dimensions, 
lighted  by  the  rays  of  the  rising  sun ;  then  two 
other  still  larger  pendents — Marine  pieces — warm 
and  golden  in  the  setting  sun.  The  figures  they 
contain,  by  the  pencil  of  some  of  the  usual  assistants 
of  Claude— Guillaume  Courtois,  Jean  Miel,  Filippo 
Lauri,  or  Francesco  Allegrini — are  intended  to  show 
in  one  the  Landing  of  Cleopatra  at  Tarsus,  where 
she  had  been  summoned  by  Mark  Antony  ;  in  the 
other,  Ulysses  restoring  Chryseis  to  her  Father.  These 
two  marine  pieces  are  in  the  style  that  Claude  was 
especially  fond  of,  in  spite,  or  perhaps  on  account 
of,  its  extreme  difficulty,  and  which  belongs  espe- 
cially to  him,  as  no  one  since  his  time  has  dared  to 
practice  it ;  the  sea  in  the  distance,  shut  in  in  the 
foreground  by  two  rows  of  palaces  and  gardens, 


278  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

which  form  a  port  in  perspective,  and  the  sun 
beyond,  low  on  the  horizon,  illuminating  by  its 
fire  the  surface  of  the  waves  which  are  agitated  by 
the  breeze. 

These  works  are  worthy  of  Claude,  and  suffice  to 
show  his  claim  to  be  considered  the  first  landscape 
painter  of  the  world,  or  perhaps,  more  correctly,  as 
the  most  skillful  composer  of  landscapes,  the  greatest 
poet  of  nature,  who  adorned  it  with  the  language 
which  speaks  to  the  eye.  But  yet  these  fine  works 
have  not  the  importance  of  some  of  those  of  which 
France  has  been  deprived.  As  a  consolation  for  the 
loss  of  the  Queen  of  Slieba,  the  National  Gallery  still 
possesses  St.  Ursua  and  the  Eleven  Thousand  Vir- 
gins, another  Marine  piece,  with  palaces  in  the  fore- 
ground, a  wonderful  masterpiece  ;  and,  also,  land- 
scapes with  figures,  representing  Ifagar  in  the  Desert, 
David  in  the  Cave  of  Adullam,  the  Death  of  Procris, 
and  Narcissus  falling  in  love  w't/t  his  own  image,  an 
exquisite  work,  a  sort  of  summary  of  all  the  familiar 
marvels  of  Claude.  The  Museo  del  Key  of  Madrid, 
among  nine  works  by  his  hand,  has  two  of  impor- 
tance. One,  shows  us  an  anchorite  at  prayer,  in 
one  of  those  barren  and  rocky  desert  landscapes 
always  given  as  the  retreat  of  the  first  Christian 
hermits,  such  as  St.  Paul  the  Hermit,  St.  Antony 
and  St.  Jerome,  according  to  the  description  given 
by  the  latter  himself :  "  Animated  with  just  wrath 
against  myself,  and  treating  my  body  with  the 
greatest  severity,  I  plunged  alone  into  the  desert ; 
when  I  found  a  deep  valley,  or  a  steep  rock,  I  made 
it  a  place  of  prayer,  and  a  sort  of  prison  where  I 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  279 

held  my  miserable  body  captive."  In  the  other 
picture  is  seen  another  victim  of  voluntary  penance, 
the  Magdalen,  kneeling  before  a  cross  supported  by 
the  trunk  of  a  tree.  This  is  also  a  desert,  but  one 
more  suited  for  a  woman,  more  gracious  and  inviting. 
Between  the  rocks,  where  sheets  of  water  fall  in 
natural  cascades,  and  the  clumps  of  trees,  which 
overshadow  the  valley  to  which  the  repentant  sin- 
ner has  retired,  a  vast  horizon  is  seen,  where  in  the 
extreme  distance  there  may  be  seen  the  edifices  of  a 
great  town,  the  sight  of  which  would  doubtless  make 
her  sigh  with  repentance  and  shame,  and  sometimes,, 
possibly,  with  regret.  Passing  on  to  St.  Petersburg,, 
we  shall  find  a  magnificent  series  of  four  pendents,, 
which  the  Hermitage  obtained  from  Malmaison,  with, 
the  Arquebusiers  of  Teniers  and  the  Coiv  of  Paul: 
Potter.  They  call  them  Morning,  Noon,  Evening,, 
and  Night.  We  will  not  attempt  any  insufficient, 
description  or  superfluous  praise  ;  it  is  enough  to  • 
say  that  this  precious  series  of  paintings  equals 
the  most  famous  masterpieces  at  Madrid,  Paris,  or 
London. 

But  Claude  is  not  merely  to  be  found  in  public 
museums ;  many  of  his  pictures  are  in  private 
cabinets,  especially  in  England,  where  the  great 
landscape  painter  is  much  admired.  I  did  not  see 
more  than  six  pictures  by  Claude  in  Italy,  where  he 
passed  the  whole  of  his  long  artistic  life,  and  where 
he  died  at  the  age  of  82,  while  in  London  alone,  I 
counted  more  than  fifty.  By  means  of  her  gold, 
England  has  obtained  nearly  all  his  works,  leaving 
only  rare  specimens  for  the  rest  of  the  world.  The 


280  WONUERS   OF  PAINTING. 

cabinet  of  the  Marquis  of  Westminster  contains  as 
many  as  the  museums  of  Prance  or  Madrid.  Two 
pendents  in  this  collection  are  the  largest  pictures 
known  by  Claude.  This  circumstance,  by  rendering 
them  unique,  adds  to  their  intrinsic  value.  The 
subject  of  one  is,  the  Worship  of  the  Golden  Calf, 
that  of  the  other,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Neither 
scene  is  in  a  desert ;  both,  on  the  contrary,  have  all 
the  luxury  and  splendor  of  Italian  scenery.  In  the 
former,  the  landscape  is  flat,  of  immense  depth, 
broken  by  clumps  of  trees  and  sheets  of  water.  One 
of  the  assistants  of  Claude  put  in  the  golden  calf, 
adored,  not  by  Jews,  but  by  a  small  group  of  peo- 
ple clothed  in  Grecian  costume.  In  the  second,  a 
rock  crowned  by  several  trees  rises  in  front  of  a 
large  plain  which  extends  as  far  as  the  eye  can 
reach.  Under  these  trees  stands  Christ  in  the  midst 
of  his  disciples,  and  from  there  addresses  to  the 
.crowd  assembled  at  the  foot  of  this  natural  pulpit 
the  wonderful  discourse  on  human  brotherhood. 
The  figures  in  these  two  pictures  are,  in  this  case, 
very  beautiful,  and  do  honor  to  the  assistant  painter, 
whether  it  were  Filippo  Lauri,  Francesco  Allegrini, 
Guillaume  Courtois,  or  any  other.  As  for  the  land- 
scapes themselves,  I  only  wish  I  could  praise  them 
as  much  as  they  deserve.  But  no  language  could 
describe  the  brilliancy  of  the  sky,  the  beauty  of  the 
earth,  the  scientific  aerial  perspective,  the  happy 
contrast  of  light  and  shadow,  the  majesty  of  the 
whole,  in  short,  everything  that  can  delight  the  eye. 
"  Claude  Lorraine,"  wrote  Goethe,  "  knew  the  mate- 
rial world  thoroughly,  even  to  the  slightest  detail, 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  281 

and  he  used  it  as  a  means  of  expressing  the  world 
in  his  own  soul." 

There  was  a  friend  of  Poussin  and  of  Claude,  like 
them  a  Frenchman  by  birth  and  an  Ital  an  by  taste, 
whom  we  must  not  pass  over.  He  is  called  MOISE 
VALENTIN  (1600-1634),  though  his  real  name  was 
Valentin  de  Boullongne.  A  rival  of  Eibera  in  the 
imitation  of  the  dark  and  turbulent  Caravaggio, 
Valentin  deserted  entirely  the  traditions  of  French 
art,  and  only  belongs  to  the  French  school  from  the 
circumstance  of  his  birth.  At  the  Louvre,  in  the 
Tribute  Money — which  is  not  treated  like  that  by 
Titian — in  the  Judgment  of  Solomon — very  unlike 
that  by  Poussin — in  the  Four  Evangelists — far  infe- 
rior to  the  St.  Mark  of  Fra  Bartolornmeo — Valentin 
displays  the  same  incapability  as  his  model  Cara- 
vaggio of  making  his  works  equal  their  titles  ;  and, 
like  Caravaggio  also,  when  he  treats  simple  and 
common-place  subjects,  as  in  his  two  Family  Con- 
certs, which  appear  to  be  held  in  very  suspicious 
places,  amongst  courtesans  and  bravi,  he  shows 
wonderful  energy  and  execution.  But  to  judge 
Valentin  justly,  and  to  appreciate  the  loss  art  sus- 
tained in  his  early  death,  occasioned  by  the  excesses 
of  a  fiery  temperament,  we  must  be  acquainted 
with  his  better  and  nobler  works,  which  show 
thought  and  reflection,  the  Martyrdom  of  St.  Latv- 
rence  in  the  Museum  of  Madrid,  and  the  Martyrdom 
of  St.  Processo,  in  the  Vatican.  We  then  see  what 
progress  his  talent  might  have  made  with  the  ex- 
ample and  advice  of  Poussin,  and  what  certain  ex- 
cellence he  would  have  attained  at  a  riper  age. 


282  WONDERS    OF  PAINTING. 

To  terminate  the  list  of  French  disciples  of  Italy, 
wo  must  mention  SEBASTIEN  BOURDON  (1616-1671). 
Without  having  taken  any  direct  lessons  from 
Poussin  during  his  residence  at  Home,  he  succeeded, 
after  several  attempts  in  an  easier  style,  in  adopt- 
ing the  style  and  manner  of  the  master,  and  becom- 
ing, like  Gaspard  Dughet,  the  happy  imitator  of 
the  painter  of  Andely.  Although  with  less  depth 
and  grandeur  than  Poussin,  he  possesses  his  scien- 
tific correctness  and  sentiment. 

We  now  return  to  France.  There  we  shall  find 
EUSTACHE  LESUEUR  (1617-1655),  and  all  his  works. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  simple  artisan,  and  never 
quitted  Paris,  where  he  was  born,  and  where  he 
died.  Driven  from  the  court  by  Lebrun,  as  Poussin 
had  been  by  Vouet,  he  lived  in  voluntary  solitude ; 
and  it  was  when  shut  up  in  the  convent  of  the 
Carthusians,  where  he  died  so  young,  that  he  pro- 
duced his  principal  works.  He  was  thus  able  to 
obtain  the  independence  necessary  for  an  artist, 
and  could  give  free  scope  to  his  genius.  Though 
he  died  while  still  a  young  man,  he  displayed  all 
the  brilliant  qualities  to  which  Poussin  only  attained 
at  a  riper  age — wisdom,  grandeur,  power  of  expres- 
sion, depth  of  thought,  and  a  touching  sensibility 
and  tenderness,  which  sometimes  raises  him  to  the 
sublime  ;  for  this  reason  he  has  been  called  the 
French  Raphael. 

r  Lesueur  has  left  all  his  works  at  Paris.  The 
Louvre  has  obtained  fifty  of  these,  including  all  of 
any  importance.  In  the  Louvre,  then,  and  in  the 
Louvre  alone,  can  Eustache  Lesueur  be  seen ;  and 


FRENQH   SCHOOL.  283 

it  is  probably  to  this  fact  that  the  ignorance  and 
injustice  of  foreign  nations  towards  this  j^reat 
painter  are  to  be  attributed.  How  could  they 
know  more  than  his  bare  name  without  studying 
him  at  Paris  ?  There  he  may  be  seen  from  his 
austere  and  studious  youth  to  his  early  death ; 
from  the  dark  and  fantastic  History  of  St.  Bruno, 
which  he  commenced  in  1645,  when  30  years  old,  to 
the  gay  and  laughing  History  of  Love,  which  was 
his  last  work.  Although  he  modestly  gave  the 
title  of  sketches  to  the  pictures  which  compose  the 
legend  of  the  founder  of  the  Carthusians,  and  was, 
moreover,  assisted  by  his  brother-in-law,  Thomas 
Goulay,  the  History  of  St.  Bruno  forms,  as  a  whole, 
the  chef-d'oeuvre  of  this  master.  Without  going  into 
a  detailed  explanation  of  these  twenty-two  pictures, 
all  alike  in  shape  and  size,  we  shall  merely  inform 
visitors  to  the  Louvre  that  if  they  wish  to  look  at 
the  most  celebrated  they  must  specially  direct  their 
attention  to  the  first,  the  Preaching  of  Raymond 
Diocres  ;  to  the  third,  the  Resurrection  of  the  Canon, 
who  half  opens  the  cover  of  his  coffin,  during  the 
service  for  the  dead,  to  announce  to  those  present 
that  he  is  lost ;  to  the  four  following  ones,  repre- 
senting the  Vocation  of  St.  Bruno,  who  is  calling  to 
his  friends  to  retire  from  the  world,  and  is  directed 
by  a  vision  of  three  angels ;  to  the  tenth,  the  Jour- 
ney to  la  Chartreuse,  where  St.  Bruno  is  pointing 
out  the  place  to  be  occupied  by  the  convent  in  the 
midst  of  the  wildest  desert  of  the  Alps  (painted 
perhaps  by  Patel) ;  and  lastly,  the  twenty-first,  the 


264  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

Death  of  St.  Bruno,  a  master-piece  of  arrangement 
and  pathetic  expression. 

If  we  wished  to  find  in  painting  the  extreme  op- 
posite to  this  mystic  legend,  where  we  see  rather 
phantoms  conjured  up  by  ecstasy  than  beings  en- 
dowed with  life,  it  would  be  possible  to  find  it  in  the 
works  of  the  same  painter.  When  Lesueur  was  in- 
trusted with  a  part  of  the  decorations  of  the  man- 
sion cf  the  president  Lambert  de  Thorigny,  the 
Salon  des  Muses  and  the  Salon  de  V Amour  fell  to  his 
share.  He  had  to  pass  from  the  Christian  to  the 
mythological  poem,  from  austere  asceticism  to 
worldly  grace  ;  and  this  complete  change  or  mode, 
as  Poussin  would  have  called  it,  was  not  too  great 
for  his  genius.  In  the  six  paintings  representing 
the  History  of  Love,  and  in  the  five  pictures  in 
which  the  nine  muses  are  grouped,  Lesueur  merely 
gave  a  different  direction  to  his  mind,  to  his  scien- 
tific combinations,  passionate  expression,  and  the 
natural  grace  of  his  pencil.  Treating  mythology  in 
the  same  manner  as  Fenelon  in  Telernachus,  he  has 
varied  his  style  without  ceasing  to  be  himself. 

But  between  the  two  extreme  modes  required  by 
the  subjects  of  a  series  of  pictures  for  a  Christian 
convent,  and  for  the  sumptuous  hotel  of  a  million- 
aire, Lesueur  painted  many  separate  compositions 
of  an  intermediate  and  varied  style,  although  they 
were  all  on  religious  subjects,  in  which  he  shows  all 
the  fullness  and  pliancy  of  his  genius.  Of  these 
are — the  Descent  from  the  Gross,  the  Mass  of  St. 
Martin,  the  brother  martyrs  St.  Gervasws  and  St. 
Protasius  refusing  to  worship  false  gods.  The  lat- 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  285 

ter  picture,  which  was  painted  as  a  pendent  to  the 
two  works  of  Philippe  de  Champagne  on  the  same 
legend,  is  as  large  as  the  largest  works  of  Lebrun 
or  Jouvenet.  To  this  number  also  belong  two 
small  pictures,  Christ  a  la  colonne  and  Christ  bearing 
the  Cross,  which  seems  to  us,  as  in  the  works  of 
Poussin,  preferable  in  style  and  perfection  to  larger 
works.  The  Preaching  of  St.  Paul  at  Ephesus, 
painted  in  1649,  and  offered  to  Notre-Dame  of  Paris 
by  the  guild  of  goldsmiths,  may  likewise  be  placed 
here.  It  represent*  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles 
causing  the  books  of  magic,  the  books  of  curious 
arts,  to  be  burnt  at  his  feet.  This  has  been  very 
rightly  placed  in  the  salle  des  chefs-cTceuvre,  for  it  is, 
if  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  masterpiece  of  .Lesueur. 

Posterity  has  well  avenged  him  for  the  unjust 
disdain  of  the  all-powerful  minister  of  Louis  XIV., 
who  chose  CHAELES  LEBRUN  (1619-1690)  in  prefer- 
ence to  him  as  the  king's  painter,  and  for  the  jeal- 
ous hatred  of  Lebrun  himself,  who  exclaimed  on 
hearing  of  the  premature  death  of  his  rival :  "  11 
m'bte  une  grosse  epine  du  pied  "  (It  takes  a  large  thorn 
from  my  foot).  We  must  confess,  however,  that 
Louis  XIV.  and  Lebrun  seem  to  have  been  make 
for  one  another.  Quinault  has  said  : 

"  Au  siecle  de  Louis,  1'heureux  sort  te  fit  naitre  ; 
II  lui  fallait  un  peintre,  il  te  fallait  un  mattre.  "* 

The  painter  also  was  a  sovereign  in  the  arts,  and 
moreover  a  despotic  sovereign,  the  sole  arbiter  of 

*  A  happy  fate  caused  thee  to  be  born  in  the  age  of  Louis  ;  he 
required  a  painter,  thou  a  master. 


286  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

taste  and  favors ;  the  painter  also  in  his  vast  and 
learned  machines  (if  we  may  so  call  them)  loved 
artificial  and  high-flown  grandeur,  pompous  and 
monotonous  nobility — the  pomp  that  strikes  the  eye, 
astonishes  the  crowd,  and  commands  its  respect. 
He  did  not  possess,  any  more  than  his  master,  the 
deeper  qualities  and  more  humane  virtues  which 
charm  the  mind  and  touch  the  heart.  His  destiny 
was  in  accordance  with  his  character  :  a  favorite 
raised  him,  Mazarin ;  a  favorite  sustained  him,  Col- 
bert ;  a  favorite  overthrew  him,  Louvois  ;  and  he 
fell  at  once  from  the  height  which  he  had  attained. 
It  was  of  Lebrun  that  La  Bruyere  said  :  "  Favor 
places  him  above  his  equals,  a  fall  below  them." 

Like  Velazquez  in  the  Museum  of  Madrid,  Lebrun 
is  to  be  found  entirely  in  the  Louvre.  Twenty-two 
pictures  represent  him  there,  at  the  head  of  which 
figures  the  History  of  Alexander.  This  famous 
series,  which  was  ordered  by  Louis  XIV.  in  1660, 
and  which  was  completed  in  1668,  is  no  less  impor- 
tant among  his  works  than  the  History  of  St.  Bruno 
among  those  of  Lesueur.  To  make  known  and  to 
popularize  this  great  poem  in  five  cantos — the  Pas- 
sage  of  the  Granicus,  the  Battle  of  Arbela,  the  Family 
of  Darius  made  captive,  the  Defeat  of  Porus,  and  the 
Triumph  of  Alexander  at  Babylon — an  evident  alle- 
gorical flattery  of  the  early  triumphs  of  the  great 
king — Lebrun  had  the  distinguished  honor  of  being 
engraved  by  Gerard  Edelinck  and  Gerard  A«udran.* 

*  As  Rubens  had  of  being  engraved  by  Bolswert,  Paul  Ponce^ 
Lucas  Vosterman,  the  younger  Pierre  de  Jode,  etc. 


FRENCH  SCHOOL.  287 

These  two  great  artists,  whilst  preserving  the  incon- 
testable, though  perhaps  the  solitary  merit  of  the 
vast  compositions  of  Lebrun — a  scientific  and  noble 
arrangement — were  at  the  same  time  so  well  able  to 
conceal  and  correct  the  imperfections  of  a  loose 
and  heavy  drawing,  that  the  Italians  might  have 
believed  that  in  Lebrun  one  of  the  great  artists  of 
the  sixteenth  century  had  revived  ;  whilst  they  so 
improved  his  monotonous  blackish  coloring,  that  the 
Elemings  might  have  believed  Louis  XIV.  fortunate 
enough  to  have  discovered  another  painter  like  that 
of  his  grandmother  Marie  de  Medici. 

The  other  great  paintings  of  Lebrun,  the  Day  of 
Pentecost  (where  he  has  introduced  himself  in  the 
figure  of  the  disciple  standing  on  the  left);  the  Christ 
with  Angels,  painted  to  immortalize  a  dream  of  the 
queen  mother  ;  and  the  liepentant  Magdalen,  which 
every  one  calls  Mademoiselle  de  la  Valliere  ;  show 
us  once  more  the  official  painter  suiting  himself  to 
his  master's  tastes  like  a  skillful  courtier,  and  also 
his  obtrusive  grandeur — stiff,  theatrical,  and  mono- 
tonous even  to  wearisomeness.  He  is  more  natural 
and  truer  in  the  Stoning  of  St.  Stephen,  as  well  as 
in  the  small  pictures  on  profane  history,  Cato  and 
Mutius  Sccevola,  works  of  his  youth,  which  were 
attributed  to  the  great  Poussin.  At  last  when, 
delivered  from  the  master's  eye,  he  descended  from 
royal  pomp  and  reduced  his  subjects  to  small 
figures,  Lebrun  seems  to  ascend  in  art  in  proportion 
as  he  becomes  humble  and  modest.  If  any  one  look 
at  three  small  pictures  near  his  great  ones,  repre- 
senting the  Entrance  of  Jesus  into  Jerusalem,  Jesus  on 


288  WONDERS    OF   PAINTING. 

his  way  to  Calvary,  and  a  Crucifixion,  especially  the 
second,  which  reminds  us  in  its  subject  of  the  Spa- 
simo,  he  will  find,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  finer  and 
more  varied  painting,  a  simpler  though  not  less 
noble  style,  and  a  deeper  and  more  touching  ex- 
pression. 

After  Lebrun  we  come  naturally  to  his  pupil, 
assistant,  and  the  continuer  of  his  style,  JEAN  Jou- 
VENET  (1644-1717;.  This  is  again  theatrical  art, 
but  carried  almost  to  the  style  of  scene-painting. 
By  what  other  name  could  we  call  the  enormous 
sheets  of  canvas  on  which  the  Miraculous  Draught  of 
Fishes,  the  Christ  driving  the  Money -Changers  out  of 
the  Temple,  and  even  the  famous  liaising  of  Lazarus, 
are  described  ?  The  dramatic  arrangement,  the  ex- 
pression— exaggerated  even  to  grimace — the  heavy 
angular  drawing,  the  pale  yellowish  and  almost  mo- 
nochromatic coloring,  the  wide  strokes  of  the  brush, 
all  make  his  works  resemble  the  decorations  of  a 
theatre,  only  intended  to  be  looked  at  from  a  dis- 
tance, and  to  be  taken  in  at  a  glance,  but  which  will 
not  sustain  a  closer  examination.  It  is  Jouvenet 
whom  Plutarch,  in  the  mouth  of  Amyot,  seems  to 
ridicule  when  he  mentions  the  sculptors  of  the 
decay  :  "  Who  carve  statues  with  legs  wide  apart 
and  outstretched  arms,  with  mouths  gaping  wide, 
thinking  that,  by  this  means,  they  will  appear 
grand."  In  taking  leave  of  Jouvenet  it  is  only  fair 
to  add,  however,  that  less  ambitious  compositions, 
such  as  the  Descent  from  the  Gross,  which  he  painted 
for  the  Convent  of  the  Capucines,  and  an  Ascension 
for  the  Church  of  St.  Paul,  are  simpler  and  calmer 


FRENCH  SCHOOL.  289 

in  their  style,  besides  being  better  in  every  re- 
spect. 

At  the  time  that,  in  order  to  flatter  the  pompous 
taste  of  the  sultan  of  Versailles,  Jouvenet  was  thus 
exaggerating  the  exaggeration  of  Lebrun,  there  was 
one  artist,  though  only  a  single  one,  religiously 
observing  the  worship  of  the  beautiful.  This  was 
JEAN  BAPTISTE  SANTERRE  (1650-1717).  Like  Lesueur 
before  him,  and  Prud'hon  after  him,  he  escaped 
from  academic  tyranny,  as  well  as  from  the  slavery 
of  the  court,  in  solitude  and  abandonment.  He 
sought  for  real  greatness  more  than  for  fame  or 
fortune,  and  found  it,  far  from  theatrical  effect,  in 
delicacy  and  grace.  Always  set  aside,  however, 
almost  unknown,  and  doing  scarcely  anything  but 
studies,  which  he  destroyed  before  his  death,  San- 
terre,  in  a  tolerably  long  life,  only  completed  a  few 
works,  and  the  Louvre  has  only  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing a  single  one,  the  modest  Venus  called  Susannah 
at  the  Bath,  which  seems  to  make  the  links  in  the 
chain  uniting  Correggio  to  Prud'hon. 

To  bring  into  one  group  the  best  portrait-painters 
of  the  age  to  which  Louis  XIV.  has  given  his  name, 
we  must  go  back  a  few  years,  and  commence  with 
PIERRE  MIGNARD  (1612-1*395),  called  the  Roman, 
although  born  at  Troyes  in  Champagne,  because  he 
passed  twenty-two  years  at  Home,  after  having 
studied  under  Simon  Vouet.  Pierre  Mignard  was 
not  merely  a  portrait-painter.  He  also  painted 
historical  pictures,  and  even  in  the  Dome  of  Val-de- 
Grace  painted  frescoes  larger  in  size,  if  not  really 
greater,  than  that  of  Correggio  in  the  Duomo  of 


290  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

Parma.  He  succeeded  the  disgraced  Lebrun  in  the 
office  of  king's  painter ;  he  was  ennobled,  made  a 
Chevalier  de  Saint  Michel,  a  professor,  rector, 
director,  and  chancellor  of  the  Academy ;  he  even 
entered  into  direct  rivalry  with  Lebrun  in  a  Family 
of  Darius  at  the  Feet  of  Alexander,  now  in  the  Her- 
mitage of  St.  Petersburg,  and  in  the  Louvre  we  may 
see  the  charming  Vierge  a  la  Grappe,  brought  from 
Italy,  in  which  he  imitated  the  style  of  Annibale 
Carracci  whilst  exaggerating  the  studied  grace  of 
Albani.  But  the.  compositions  of  Mignard,  with  the 
exception  of  this  Madonna  with  tJie  Grapes,  have  not 
retained  their  passing  celebrity  ;  he  is  now  only  re- 
membered by  his  portraits,  to  be  found  in  the  gal- 
leries of  many  noble  families.  In  the  Louvre,  where 
we  are  surprised  to  see  no  portrait  of  Louis  XIV., 
whom  Mignard  painted  very  frequently,  and  at 
nearly  every  period  of  his  life  except  old  age,  there 
are  a  great  number  of  historical  portraits,  the  Grand 
Dauphin,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
Madame  de  Mainfenon,  and  Mignard  himself.  In  all 
these  works,  historical  paintings  as  well  as  portraits, 
he  displays  the  same  cold  correctness,  the  same 
skillfulness  in  the  art  of  flattery,  the  same  care  in 
minute  details,  carried  to  the  extreme  which  has 
made  his  name  a  proverb  in  France,  at  first  in  praise, 
and  now  in  blame  ;  but  they  also  show  a  lightness 
of  touch  and  vivacity  of  coloring  which,  in  that 
period  of  systematic  abandonment  of  coloring,  easily 
rendered  him  the  first  colorist  amongst  the  court 
painters  of  France. 

Mignard   transmitted  his   talent   as  well  as  his 


FRENCH  SCHOOL.  291 

office  to  HYACINTHS  EIGAUD  (1659-1743).  But  before 
passing  on  to  him  we  must  notice  an  intermediary 
painter,  CLAUDE  LEF^VRE  (1633-1675),  whose  por- 
traits remind  us  of  those  of  Philippe  de  Champagne, 
and  also  NICOLAS  DE  LARGILLIERE  (1656-1746),  who 
united  scientific  correctness  to  good  execution. 
Brought  up  in  Flanders,  at  Antwerp,  Largilliere 
carried  back  from  that  country  the  taste  for,  and 
knowledge  of,  coloring  and  picturesque  effect  for 
which  the  then  reigning  school  of  Lebrun  cared  but 
little  ;  and  in  this  respect  he  does  not  show  himself 
unworthy  of  the  name  that  M.  Ch.  Blanc  proposes 
to  give  him,  of  the  Fan  der  Heist  of  France. 

As  for  Eigaud,  he  has  deserved  his  name  of  the 
French  Van  Dyck,  at  all  events,  through  his  fertility.* 
Amongst  his  pictures  in  the  Louvre,  Louis  XIV. 
figures  in  the  front  rank  in  a  pomp  recalling  that  of 
Jupiter  visiting  Sernele ;  and  Bossuet,  who  seems 
also  holding  a  court  in  his  bishop's  robes  as  the 
chief  of  the  church,  and  the  king  of  eloquence. 
They  are  known  everywhere,  thanks  to  engraving ; 
for  Eigaud,  no  less  fortunate  than  Lebrun,  who  had 
been  corrected  and  engraved  by  Edelinck  and  An- 
dran,  found  the  illustrious  Pierre  Drevret  as  his  in- 
terpreter. By  the  advice  of  the  jealous  Lebrun, 
Eigaud  became  and  remained  a  portrait-painter, 

*  One  of  his  biographers  relates  that  during  the  seventeen 
years  comprised  between  1681-1698,  when  he  was  still  young  and 
only  beginning  to  be  known,  Rigaud  completed  6*23  portraits 
of  all  sizes.  How  many,  then,  must  he  have  painted  during 
the  remaining  forty-five  years  of  his  life,  enjoying  a  constantly 
increasing  fame  ! 


292  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

studying  from  nature,  and  seeking  truth  not  merely 
in  living  figures,  but  also  in  the  inanimate  objects  of 
the  accessories.  He  has  been  reproached,  and  not 
without  reason,  with  having  given  such  amplitude 
to  the  dresses  that  the  persons  always  seem  taking 
part  in  some  ceremony.  He  also,  like  Van  Dyck, 
imparted  such  an  expression  of  nobility  and  dig- 
nity to  all  his  models  that  it  may  be  thought  he 
usually  gave  it  gratuitously.  Under  his  pencil  even 
the  Cardinal  Dubois  assumes  the  moral  grandeur  of 
an  upright  man. 

We  have  now  come  to  the  close  of  the  long  reign 
of  Louis  XIV.  There  can  be  no  more  ""striking 
proof  that  art  escapes  from  every  rule  of  discipline 
and  command.  Before  his  death,  the  great  king 
was  vanquished  as  much  in  his  taste  as  in  his 
politics.  He  survived  his  work  but  to  see  its  total 
destruction.  He  who  had  only  admired  and  allowed 
in  art  the  vain  and  foolish  pomp  of  his  Versailles, 
that  Egyptian  pyramid  raised  at  the  gates  of  Paris ; 
he  who  could  not  understand  the  greatness  of 
Poussin  and  Lesueur  because  their  poetical  pictures 
were  contained  in  small  frames,  preferring  to  them 
the  enormous  theatrical  pieces  of  Jouvenet ;  he  who 
despised  the  paintings  of  Teniers  and  Ostade,  had, 
when  he  was  laid  for  the  last  time  on  his  state  bed, 
only  one  real  painter  remaining. 

This  solitary  painter  was  Watteau ;  for  I  cannot 
count  either  Kigaud,  who  merely  painted  portraits, 
or  Pierre  Subleyras,  who  settled  in  Italy,  or  Charles 
de  la  Fosse,  or  the  two  Boulognes  (Bon  and  Louis), 
who  merely  continued  the  style  of  Lebrun,  and  were 


FRENCH  SCHOOL.  293 

themselves  completed  by  Licherie  and  Galloche  ;  or 
Antoine  Coypel,  who  treated  history  as  it  is  treated 
at  the  theatre,  clothing  the  ancient  Greeks  in  silk 
'mee-breeches  and  the  Roman  ladies  in  hoops,  and 
changing  the  manners  as  mucli  as  the  costume,  so 
that  the  Scapins  of  the  Italian  comedy  might  also 
say  before  his  works  :  "  These  are  Mr.  Achilles  and 
Mr.  Agamemnon."  I  repeat,  then,  that  ANTOINE 
WATTEAU  (1684-1721),  whom  Louis  XIV.  would  cer- 
tainly have  repulsed  with  as  much  scorn  as  he  did 
Teniers,  was  the  only  real  painter  who  survived  him. 
He  has  certainly  only  attempted  very  small  genre 
subjects ;  but  he  has  imparted  such  elevation  and 
grandeur  to  them  that  he  will  always  be  considered 
fax  above  a  mere  decorator  of  ladies'  boudoirs.  In 
the  works  of  this  painter  of  Fetes  Galantes  besides 
the  exquisite  coloring  taken  from  Rubens,  we  shall 
always  have  to  admire  his  invention,  fun,  wit,  and 
even  propriety  ;  for  we  feel  that  he  was,  as  his  bio- 
grapher Gersaint  says,  a  "  libertine  in  mind,  though 
of  good  morality."  Be3a-i>e  he  was  indirectly  the 
founder  of  what  was  called  the  Pompadour  genre, 
many  suppose  Watteau  to  have  actually  been  the 
contemporary  of  Antoinette  Poussin  and  the  Pare 
aux  Cerfs.  This  is  an  error,  however.  He  was 
born  in  1684,  and  died  in  1721,  a  year  before  the 
birth  of  this  butcher's  daughter,  who  was  raised  to 
the  dignity  of  Queen  of  France  :  he  therefore  saw 
the  close  of  one  reign  and  the  commencement  of 
another.  If  the  son  of  the  poor  thatcher  of  Valen- 
ciennes— who  for  a  long  time  painted  pictures  of 
St.  Nicholas  for  three  francs  a  week  and  his  soup, 


294  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

before  the  scene-painter,  Claude  Gillot,  introduced 
him  to  the  green-room  of  the  opera — founded  in 
painting  a  school  of  decay,  or  rather  if,  in  the  decay 
already  accomplished,  he  was  so  superior  to  the 
other  imitators  of  this  genre  that  he  has  been  called 
its  founder,  yet  his  name,  whatever  amount  of  blame 
he  may  have  incurred,  must  occupy  an  honorable 
place  amongst  those  of  French  artists.  It  was  in 
the  hands  of  his  plagiarists — the  Van  Loos,  the 
Paters,  Lancrets,  Natoires,  and  the  long  train  of 
their  followers — that  the  decay  was  most  manifest ; 
that  art  was  more  and  more  degraded  and  dishon- 
ored in  ridiculous  and  licentious  paintings  of  sheep- 
folds  decorated  with  satin  ribbons,  and  pictures  were 
merely  used  as  ornaments  for  boudoirs. 

We  will  not  descend  any  lower  than  the  master 
and  his  immediate  pupils  in  the  deplorable  road  they 
followed,  but  will  stop  before  coming  to  the  so-called 
Painter  of  the  Graces.  He  acquired  this  name,  be- 
cause, in  the  midst  of  landscapes  as  weak  and  false 
as  the  scenes  at  the  opera,  he  introduced,  as  the 
shepherdesses  of  his  beribboned  sheep,  veritable 
dolls,  without  shame  or  modesty,  fat,  puffy,  with  flat 
noses,  and  only  fresh-looking  from  the  vermilion  of 
their  toilette,  or  because  they  are  reposing  in  the 
style  of  goddesses  on  clouds  of  cotton.  How  much 
surprised  the  Greeks  would  have  been  to  see  these 
Graces !  We  will  stop,  then,  before  coming  to 
Boucher.  Returning  to  historical  'subjects,  we  come 
to  CARL  VAN  Loo  (1705-1765),  the  best  of  the  four 
painters  in  his  family,  merely  to  show  to  what  a 
depth  of  decay  an  artist  endowed  by  nature  with 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  295 

great  and  solid  qualities  may  be  led  by  the  bad 
taste  of  his  age.  Had  Carl  Van  Loo  been  born  two 
centuries  earlier  he  would  probably  have  been  one 
of  the  masters  of  his  art.  In  his  early  years  he 
was  noted  for  his  correct  drawing,  his  severe  style, 
and  his  antique  elegance.  "  He  had  all  the  signs 
of  genius,"  affirms  Diderot,  who  yet  calls  his  works 
"  masterpieces  of  dyeing ;"  and  no  painter  of  the 
time  acquired  greater  renown,  fortune,  or  honors, 
than  he.  Van  Loo  should  have  restricted  himself  to 
the  anecdotal  style,  or  to  genre  painting ;  but  he 
attempted  history  and  sacred  subjects,  and  failed 
utterly. 

The  eighteenth  century,  that  is  to  say,  the  period-, 
comprised  between  the  early  years  of  the  Eegency 
and  those  of  the  Revolution,  is  entirely  destitute  of 
painters  in  the  branch  of  art  now  occupying  us.. 
When  in  the  Low  Countries  we  see  nothing  but  the 
painting  on  porcelain  by  Van  der  Werff,  and  in 
Germany  nothing  but  the  imitations  of  Dietrich  ; 
when  Italy  is  reduced  to  the  learned  and  cold  me- 
diocrities of  the  Saxon,  Raphael  Mengs,  and  Spain 
produces  only  the  singular  and  fantastic  Francisco 
Goya,  France,  also,  instead  of  a  school  devoted  to 
great  subjects,  has  merely  a  few  isolated  artists  in 
secondary  genres. 

To  take  up  these  genres  and  these  artists  we  must 
go  back  in  the  first  place  to  FRANCOIS  DESPORTES 
(1661-1743),  who  was  the  first  in  France  to  make  a 
special  domain  for  himself  by  imitating  Sneyders, 
and  who  became  the  historiographer  of  the  hunts  of 
Louis  XIV..  as  Van  der  Meulin  was  of  his  gallant 


296  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

military  campaigns ;  then  to  JEAN  BAPTISTE  OUDET 
(1686-1755),  whose  genre  was  the  same  as  that  of 
Desportes,  and  who  was  in  his  turn  the  historian  of 
the  hunts  of  Louis  XV.  Their  works,  which  are 
very  numerous  in  the  Louvre — Hunts  of  stags, 
wolves,  boars,  pheasants,  and  partridges — and  also 
their  simple  portraits  of  dogs  and  groups  of  game, 
showT  that  they  had  neither  the  invention  nor  the 
movement  of  the  worthy  fellow-worker  of  Eubens, 
nor  the  exquisite  skill  and  touch  of  Fyt  and  Weenix. 
But  the  habits  of  the  animals  have  been  well 
studied,  the  forms  are  well  given,  and  they  com- 
pose very  good  hunting-pictures,  much  sought  after 
by  country-houses,  and  not  to  be  excluded  from 
museums. 

After  the  dogs  of  Desportes  and  Oudry,  we  come  to 
the  dining-room  pictures,  in  which  SIMEON  CHARDIN 
(1699-1779)  showed  himself  the  worthy  rival  both  of 
Wilhelm  Kalf,  the  painter  of  Dutch  kitchens,  and  of 
Michael  Angelo  Cerquozzi,  the  painter  of  Italian 
fruits.  Chardin,  who  was  a  powerful  colorist,  rivals 
them  in  the  vigor  of  his  tints  and  models,  until  then 
unknown  in  the  French  school.  "  Oh,  Chardin !" 
cries  the  enthusiastic  Diderot,  "it  is  not  colors 
alone  that  you  mix  on  your  palette ;  it  is  the  very 
substance  of  the  objects,  it  is  air  and  light  with 
which  you  paint."  What  is  called  dead  nature  cer- 
tainly forms  his  masterpieces.  The  only  reproach 
Chardin  could  incur,  would  be  of  too  frequently 
employing  exaggerated  dimensions.  It  is  not  suit- 
able to  give  the  natural  dimensions  to  inanimate 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  297 

objects,  or  even  to  animals ;  it  should  be  reserved 
for  man. 

Another  genre,  marine  pieces,  and  another  artist 
CLAUDE  JOSEPH  VEBNET  (1714-1789),  now  claim  our 
attention.  A  whole  room  in  the  Louvre  is  devoted 
to  the  works  of  Joseph  Vernet ;  there  are  nearly  fifty 
of  them  ranged  on  the  walls  round  his  bust  in  mar- 
ble. These  are,  in  the  first  place,  Views  of  the  prin- 
cipal French  Seaports,  painted  in  1754  to  1765,  by 
order  of  Louis  XV. ;  an  ungrateful  task  which  would 
have  required  a  mind  inexhaustible  in  its  resources. 
There  is  a  large  number  of  marine  pieces  properly 
so  called,  which  are  not  merely  views  of  certain 
localities,  but  where  the  artist  has  been  able  to 
make  use  freely  of  his  invention,  his  tastes,  his 
caprices,  where  he  shows,  in  short,  that  it  was 
through  love  to  the  sea  for  its  own  sake  that  he 
became  a  marine  painter.  He  represented  it  in  all 
its  forms,  in  all  its  aspects,  in  the  south  and  the 
north,  at  day  and  at  night,  in  the  morning  and  in 
the  evening,  with  the  sun  and  the  moon,  the  fog  and 
fire,  in  rain  and  in  fine  weather,  in  cairn  and  tem- 
pest. These  marine  pieces  of  Joseph  Vernet  cer- 
tainly do  not  possess  the  intoxicating  poetry  of 
Claude,  or  the  dreamy  poetry  of  Euysdael,  or  the 
powerful  reality  of  William  Van  de  Velde,  Albert 
Cuyp,  Backhuysen,  and  Van  der  Kapella.  He  said  of 
himself :  "  Inferior  to  each  of  the  great  painters  in 
one  part,  I  surpass  them  in  all  the  others."  With- 
out accepting  this  opinion,  which  he  doubtless  be- 
lieved to  be  modest,  we  may  truly  say  that  the 
marine  pieces  of  Vernet  are  good  works,  conscien- 


298  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

tiously  interesting,  and  worthy  of  study ;  in  which 
the  scene  itself,  the  sky,  and  the  water,  all  show  his 
talent.  By  an  honorable  exception  to  the  general 
rule,  even  the  figures,  which  were  painted  entirely 
by  himself,  render  his  pictures  real  compositions, 
and  sometimes  even  raise  them  to  the  rank  of 
historical  works. 

We  must  also  place  amongst  the  genre  painters, 
JEAN  BAPTISTS  GKEUSE  (1725-1805),  not  because  the 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts  refused  to  admit  him  as  an 
historical  painter,  but  because  the  style  and  subjects 
of  his  works  do  not  really  raise  him  higher.  Yet 
his  genre  is  undoubtedly  his  own,  and  must  preserve 
his  name.  He  took  it  from  the  contemporary  literary 
school  of  the  day,  which  inculcated  a  return  to  na- 
ture. Greuse  listened  to  this  advice :  notwithstand- 
ing his  own  domestic  griefs,  he  remained  constantly 
faithful  to  the  worship  of  the  family,  and  approached 
nature,  not  in  the  manner  of  Boucher,  by  ridiculous 
pastoral  caricatures,  where  even  inanimate  objects 
are  disguised  as  much  as  beings  ;  but  by  taking  his 
figures  from  rural  life,  where  the  natural  is  less 
effaced  than  under  the  uniform  varnish  of  towns, 
and  representing  simple  and  touching  village  scenes. 
Diderot  says  of  him  :  "  He  was  the  first  who  thought 
of  bringing  morality  into  art."  And  he  says  else- 
where :  "  Take  courage,  Greuse,  and  teach  morality 
in  thy  painting."  For  the  century  of  Greuse,  Di- 
derot was  right. 

Some  of  these  village  scenes  contain  merely  a 
comic  incident,  such  as  the  Brolten  Pitcher  ;  others 
rise  to  pathetic  drama,  like  the  Father  s  Curse.  The 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  299 

Village  Bride  is  of  an  intermediate  style,  more  simple 
and  graceful,  and  may  be  considered  as  the  mas- 
terpiece of  the  transition  style  in  which  Greuse  is 
alone.  These  choice  works  are  in  the  Louvre,  and 
France  may  consider  herself  fortunate  to  have 
secured  them  beforehand  from  the  amateurs,  who 
now  dispute  with  an  eagerness,  on  which  fashion  has 
its  effect,  for  the  slightest  sketches  of  a  painter, 
whose  old  ago  was  passed  in  extreme  poverty. 
Whilst  we  admire  in  Greuse  the  honorable  part  he 
took  in  leaving  libertinism  and  returning  to  modesty 
and  decency — the  charming  faces  of  his  young  girls 
— the  life-like  expression  of  his  heads,  painted  at 
once  with  great  care  and  force — we  must  not  forget 
also,  when  we  cease  to  regard  him  as  a  moralist  and 
look  at  him  merely  as  a  painter,  that  the  other 
parts  of  his  pictures  are  usually  weaker  and  more 
neglected ;  that  the  backgrounds  and  all  the  acces- 
sories remain  heavy,  dark,  and  defective,  and  that 
the  figures  themselves  have  incurred  the  reproach  of 
too  constantly  recalling  the  same  type — that  of  his 
Fricassee  d'Enfants.  We  must  not  forget  either  that 
although  Greuse  possesses  expression,  he  is  too 
often  destitute  of  the  higher  quality  that  we  call  style. 
With  this  reserve  we  still  leave  him  a  very  high  place 
amongst  the  masters  of  the  second  order,  and  a  just 
renown,  which  a  passing  breath  of  fashion  will  not 
raise  immeasurably  high,  and  which  will  not  be  blown 
away  altogether  by  another  breath.  Many  names 
have  been  given  to  Greuse,  for  example,  that  of  the 
French  Hogarth,  although  in  reality  he  has  not  the 
slightest  resemblance  with  the  celebrated  English 


300  WONDERS    OF  PAINTING. 

humorist,  whom,  besides,  he  infinitely  surpassed  in 
his  drawing  and  coloring.  It  seems  to  me  that 
without  leaving  France  for  a  comparison  we  might 
call  him  the  Sedaine  of  Painting ;  this  would  mark 
his  genre  with  more  correctness,  and  his  rank  with 
greater  justice.  He  endeavored  to  bring  art  into 
accordance  with  the  literature  and  philosophy  of  the 
day,  and  by  causing  a  reaction  against  the  detestable 
genre  Pompadour,  Greuse  deserved  the  honor  of  being 
almost  the  only  one  to  survive  that  period,  as  he 
prepared  the  way  for  the  reform  that  he  saw  accom- 
plished in  his  old  age. 

It  was  JOSEPH  MARIE  VIEN  (1716-1809)  wrho,  in 
historical  painting,  gave  the  signal  for  this  reform 
when,  in  1771  to  1781,  he  directed  the  French  school 
at  Home.  In  studying  the  works  of  the  greater 
ages,  he  learned  to  understand  the  inanity  of  the 
genre,  in  which  art  had  almost  perished.  He  en- 
deavored to  return  and  become  more  like  the  great 
models.  To  Vien,  then,  belongs  the  honor  of  hav- 
ing clearly  seen  the  evil  and  its  remedy,  and  of 
having  been  the  first  to  attempt  the  part  of  a  re- 
former, which  was  accomplished  by  his  pupil  Louis 
David.  This  honorable  attempt  may  be  seen,  for 
style,  in  his  fine  composition  St.  Germain  of  Auxerre 
and  St.  Vincent  of  baragossa  receiving  martyr's 
crowns  from  an  angel ;  for  chastened  and  powerful 
execution,  in  the  Hermit  asleep.  It  is  said  of  this 
last  picture  that  one  day,  in  his  studio  at  Home,  the 
hermit  who  served  him  for  a  model  went  to  sleep 
whilst  playing  on  the  violin.  Vien  took  his  por- 
trait in  this  attitude,  and  with  so  much  success  that, 
although  we  should  have  preferred  in  such  a  subject 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  301 

small  proportions  to  life-size,  and  Flemish  instead 
of  Italian  taste,  yet  we  cannot  help  being  much  sur- 
prised to  find  such  a  work  at  this  date. 

Vien  said,  "  I  have  only  half  opened  the  door  ;  it 
is  M.  David  who  will  throw  it  wide  open."  And 
indeed  -t  was  reserved  for  his  pupil  JACQUES  Louis 
DAVID  (1748-1825) — the  nephew  of  Fran§ois  Bou- 
cher, the  pointer  of  the  Graces,  who  refused  to  give 
him  lessons — to  accomplish  in  France,  with  more 
authority  and  success,  the  renovation  essayed  by  his 
master  at  the  Academy  of  Home.  Following  the 
rapid  incline  which  urges  every  reaction  to  an  ex- 
treme, the  republican  Louis  David  resolved  to  bring 
back  art  not  merely  to  the  finest  epoch  of  the 
French  school  in  the  times  of  Poussin  and  Lesueur, 
nor  even  to  the  finest  period  of  Italian  art  in  the 
times  of  Raphael  and  Titian,  but  to  antiquity.  In 
order  to  delineate  Koman  subjects  and  Koman 
manners,  he  sought  his  models  in  the  ruins  of  an- 
cient Home  ;  he  studied  the  statues  and  bas-reliefs, 
Tacitus  and  Plutarch.  This  was  assuredly  to  draw 
from  the  fountain  head  of  the  beautiful,  to  raise  the 
composition,  ennoble  the  style,  and  make  contempo- 
rary morals  undergo  the  healthy  and  fortifying  influ- 
ence of  art,  which  too  often,  as  had  just  happened, 
was  affected  by  the  corrupting  influence  of  morals. 
But  it  was  also  to  engage  regenerated  painting  in 
the  path  properly  belonging  to  sculpture  ;  it  was  to 
mistake  its  guide,  to  take  erudition  for  sentiment, 
and  to  make  up,  in  the  fashion  of  the  philosophers 
and  poets  of  the  time,  a  conventional  antiquity,  in 
which  life,  the  greatest  merit  and  quality  of  works 


302  WONDERS   OF   PAINTING. 

of  art,  was  necessarily  wanting.  It  was  also  to  gc 
too  far  from  his  own  century,  for  never,  in  the  histo- 
ry of  mankind,  has  the  past  been  seen  to  constitute 
the  future.  We  should  study  the  antique,  study  it 
constantly,  as  well  as  the  great  periods  of  the  Re- 
naissance, but  neither  copy  it  nor  remake  it.  We 
must  take  its  general  lessons  on  taste  and  style,  but 
should  not  copy  its  models  servilely.  The  works  of 
the  art  of  antiquity,  and  even  of  the  Renaissance, 
must  be,  like  classical  books,  our  masters  and 
instructors,  but  on  the  condition  that  art  and  litera- 
ture preserve  the  originality  of  their  own  period, 
and  are  the  faithful  mirror  of  contemporary  society. 
As  long  as  David  painted  merely  in  his  studio  and 
before  his  pupils,  his  works  and  lessons  were,  in 
some  degree,  a  public  good  ;  by  the  severity  of  his 
taste  and  forms,  by  the  admiration  of  noble  thoughts 
and  fine  actions,  he  brought  back  art  to  a  respect 
for  itself,  to  dignity  and  true  grandeur.  But  when 
the  Empire  had  overthrown  the  Republic,  when 
David,  painter  to  the  emperor,  had  become,  less 
from  character  than  from  position,  the  regulator  of 
taste,  the  dispenser  of  favors  ;  in  short,  the  prefect 
of  the  department  of  the  Fine  Arts,  there  reap- 
peared the  tyranny  of  Vouet  under  Louis  XIII., 
and  of  Lebrun  under  Louis  XIV.  With  the  forms 
of  the  imperial  regime  art  was  enrolled  and  disci- 
plined. All  its  works,  from  the  historical  picture 
down  to  ornamental  furniture,  as  all  works  of  litera- 
ture, from  the  epic  poem  to  the  couplet  of  romance, 
received  the  order  of  the  day,  a  watchword,  and.  I 
was  almost  going  to  say,  a  uniform,  which  was  called 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  303 

the  style  of  the  Empire.  "  Art,"  says  Plato,  "  is  a 
forest  bird  that  hates  the  cage,  and  can  only  live  at 
liberty."  Art,  then,  like  letters,  stopped  short  in  its 
flight,  for  liberty  alone  insures  the  progress  of  both. 
All  theories  must  be  freely  discussed,  every  genre  be 
produced ;  all  talents  follow  their  own  course,  in  or- 
der that  the  human  mind,  urged  forward  in  the  tor- 
rent of  general  emulation,  may  rise  from  effort  to 
effort,  and  from  conquest  to  conquest. 

Passing  by  the  official  orders,  we  will  rapidly 
mention  the  best  works  of  David  to  be  found  in  the 
Louvre,  and  will  place  them  in  chronological  order, 
so  that  we  may  be  able  to  appreciate  the  modifica- 
tions made  on  the  talent  of  the  painter  by  his  perso- 
nal situation.  The  Oath  of  the  Horalii  was  painted 
at  Rome  in  1784.  It  is  said  that  Louis  XVI.  or- 
dered this  first  republican  picture.  "When  this  pic- 
ture was  first  produced,  it  was  as  if  David  had 
passed  at  a  single  bound  to  the  antipodes  of  the 
licentious  nonsense  with  which,  until  then,  both  the 
court  and  the  town  had  been  satisfied.  "  What 
must  have  been  the  universal  stupefaction  when  a 
painter  appeared  who,  while  he  evoked  one  of  the 
most  generous  lessons  to  be  learned  from  ancient 
history,  restored  also  the  costumes,  the  manners,  and 
the  architecture  of  heroic  times  ;  who  found  such 
simplicity,  such  noble  eagerness  in  the  movement  of 
the  warriors  who  are  animated  by  the  genius  of 
Borne,  and  such  beautiful  lines  in  their  proud  coun- 
tenances !  Is  it  not  like  passing  from  the  elegant 
trifles  of  Dorat  to  the  majestic  cadences  of  Cor- 
Deilla?"  (Charles  Blanc.)  The  appearance  of  the 


304  WONDSKS   OF   PAINTING. 

Oath  of  t/ie  Horatii,  cause  .1,  indeed,  such  astonish- 
ment and  sensation,  even  in  the  frivolous  world  oi 
the  Parisian  salons,  that  from  this  time  we  may  date 
the  commencement  of  the  fashion  for  Roman  forms 
in  garments,  hangings,  and  furniture.  The  second 
republican  picture  is  of  Marcus  Brutus,  to  whom  the 
lictors  are  bringing  the  corses  of  his  two  sons,  whom 
he  had  condemned  to  death.  In  this  work,  dated 
1789,  David  also  foretells  the  future,  for  this  horri- 
bly grand  action  of  Brutus  seems  to  announce,  alas ! 
the  frightful  hecatomb  which  the  France  of  1793 
would  make  of  her  children.  It  is  as  well  that  the 
artist  placed  the  face  of  Brutus  in  the  shade  near 
the  statue  of  Rome  with  the  Wolf,  for  the  struggle 
in  him  between  the  heroism  of  the  citizen  and  the 
grief  of  a  father  is  almost  too  great  to  conceive,  and 
the  human  mind  hesitates  to  decide  what  should  be 
the  predominating  feeling  of  the  unhappy  father. 
But  this  figure  should  have  been  alone  with  the 
funeral  procession  ;  the  group  of  cold  and  coquet- 
tish women  are  entirely  out  of  place  here,  and  they 
divide  the  interest,  and  so  weaken  it,  by  turning  it 
into  two  directions. — The  Sabine  Women  throwing 
themselves  into  the  midst  of  the  conflict  between  the 
Romans  and  the  Sabines  :  it  was  after  having 
passed  five  months  in  prison  after  the  9th  Thermi- 
dor,  as  the  friend  of  Robespierre  and  St.  Just,  that 
David  commenced  this  picture,  wishing  to  commem- 
orate, it  is  said,  the  perilous  efforts  made  by  his  own 
wife  to  save  him.  Between  the  Brutus  and  the  Sa- 
line Women,  whilst  sitting  on  the  mountain  of  the 
Convention,  David  had  sketched  out  the  Oath  of  the 


FRENCH    SCHOOL.  307 

de  Paume,  a  vast  composit'on,  as  full  of  fire  and 
energy  as  that  first  scene  ol  the  great  cLama  of  the 
Kevo'ution,  and  he  had  a'so  pa  nted  the  Death  of 
Marat,  struck  by  Charlotte  Corday.  This  latter 
work  is  considered  his  masterpiece  in  point  of  exe- 
cution. We  should  seek  vainly  in  the  Sabine  Women 
for  the  passionate  movement  of  the  Jeu  de  Pauine, 
or  the  firm  painting  of  the  Marat.  We  do  not  find 
in  it,  either,  the  historical  accuracy  of  the  Horatii, 
unless  we  seek  it  in  the  abrupt  rocks  on  which  the 
primitive  Capitol  is  built,  and  the  trusses  of  hay 
which  serve  as  standards  to  the  primitive  legions. 
But  which  is  intended  for  the  nursling  of  the  wolf? 
It  surely  cannot  be  the  elegant  youth,  who,  although 
naked,  we  cannot  help  expecting  to  see  with  his  hand 
gloved,  in  order  to  balance  his  javelin  coquettishly. 
Where,  too,  are  his  ferocious  companions,  the  rob- 
bers of  lands,  robbers  of  cattle,  robbers  of  women  ? 
Where  are  the  women,  the  females,  disputed  for  by 
these  wild  beasts  ?  Livy  wrote  a  romance  on  the 
birth  of  Eome ;  the  Sabines  form  a  new  romance  on 
Livy.  United  by  the  scene,  and  called  Konians  and 
Sabines,  all  these  personages  are  evidently  false  and 
badly  treated.  But  taken  alone,  merely  as  human 
figures  of  all  ages,  from  old  age  to  childhood,  they 
are  excellent  studies,  and  will  always  form  good  cop- 
ies for  masters  and  pupils.  Leonidas  at  Thermopy- 
l(K :  Although  between  this  picture  and  the  Sabines 
the  whole  interval  of  the  Empire  intervenes,  I  may 
yet  call  them  twin  pictures.  What  has  been  said  of 
the  one  will  do  for  the  other,  weakened,  however,  in 
execution.  I  shall  only  add  one  remark.  All  the 


308  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

details  of  Leonidas  are  borrowed  from  the  narrative 
of  the  fight  at  Thermopylae  placed  by  the  Abbe 
Bartheleiny  in  the  introduction  to  his  Travels  of 
Anacharsis  in  Greece.  David  has  simply  placed  his 
narration  in  painting ;  and  this  is  why,  by  recon- 
structing the  antique  by  erudition  instead  of  senti- 
ment, he  copied  his  subject,  as  he  copied  his  mod- 
els, without  animating  them  with  the  light  of  a  crea- 
tive intelligence. 

The  works  of  David  which  we  have  just  been 
considering  show  all  his  good  qualities  and  defects 
in  the  clearest  light.  On  one  hand  the  fine  sub- 
jects, noble  sentiments,  austere  forms,  correct  draw- 
ing, and  chastened  painting ;  on  the  other,  in  the 
composition  may  be  seen  an  academic,  or,  rather, 
sculptural  stiffness,  making  the  living  beings  look 
as  if  cut  out  in  marble,  and  of  a  painted  picture  a 
sort  of  bas-relief ;  and  in  the  execution  a  sad  and 
monotonous  coloring,  increased  still  more  by  the 
bad  distribution  of  light,  and  by  the  contempt  for, 
or  ignorance  of,  the  charms  and  marvels  of  chiaros- 
curo. David,  possessing  neither  much  sentiment 
nor  poetic  warmth,  never  dared  attempt  sacred  sub- 
jects, which  besides,  in  that  period,  would  have 
been  quite  ill-timed.  They  were  no  longer  believed 
in,  and  no  one  had  as  yet  attempted  to  treat  them 
with  philosophy.  But,  in  addition  to  the  historical 
pictures,  there  are  a  number  of  portraits.  One  of 
the  most  celebrated  of  these  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Louvre,  that  of  Pope  Pius  VII.  It  is,  like  all  Da- 
vid's portraits,  well  copied  from  nature,  and  full  of 
physical  life  ;  but  the  breath  of  poetry  and  of  the 


FRENCH    SCHOOL.  309 

ideal  has  not  passed  over  the  brow  of  the  prisoner 
of  Fontainebleau. 

It  may  be  thought  strange  that  the  ancient  scene 
of  coquetry,  copied  from  a  bas-relief  in  the  Bor- 
ghese  palace  in  1788,  and  called  the  Loves  of  Helen 
and  Paris,  should  bear  the  same  date  as  the  austere 
Brutus.  It  makes  us  regret  the  absence  in  the 
Louvre  of  another  easel  picture  in  which  David,  in 
this  resembling  Poussin,  in  my  opinion  has  shown 
himself  greater  than  in  any  of  his  larger  works,  and 
superior  even  to  himself — the  Death  of  Socrates. 
Yet  even  in  this  picture  we  may  complain  of  a  deli- 
cacy and  freshness  in  the  execution,  little  in  harmo- 
ny with  the  melancholy  grandeur  of  such  a  subject ; 
Poussin  would  not  have  made  this  mistake.  But 
the  composition  of  it  is  so  fine  and  powerful  that  it 
places  it  in  the  first  rank  of  the  works  of  the  French 
school,  and  raises  it  to  a  level  with  those  of  Poussin. 

The  Carracci  are  only  complete  in  their  disciples  ; 
David  is  also  completed  by  bis  school,  and,  like  the 
satellites  of  a  planet,  his  greatest  pupils  form  a 
brilliant  train  around  him  in  the  Louvre.  Here  we 
find  the  young  JEAN  GERMAIN  DROUAIS  (1763-1788), 
who  died  before  completing  his  twenty-fifth  year, 
and  who  has  only  left  a  Marius  at  Minturncc,  van- 
quishing with  a  glance  the  soldier  sent  by  Sylla  to 
kill  him  in  prison.  ANNE  Louis  GIRODET  TRIOSON 
(1767-1824),  may  also  be  found  in  the  Louvre,  with 
his  most  important  works.  The  Revolt  in  Cairo,  a 
theatrical  combat ;  the  Interment  of  Atala,  describ- 
ing, with  greater  simplicity,  a  scene  from  the  poeti- 
cal, exaggerated,  and  hollow  prose  of  Chateau- 


310  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

briand,  the  success  of  which,  at  first  from  fashion, 
though  it  is  now  a  matter  of  wonder,  has  happily 
left  no  traces  in  literature,  except  in  the  romances 
of  D'Arlincourt,  and  has  not  altered  to  any  greater 
extent  the  good  old  French  prose ;  a  Scene  from  the 
Deluge,  which  took  the  prize  in  1810,  a  fine  group  of 
nudes,  reminding  us  a  little  of  the  convulsive  enlace- 
ments  of  the  Laocoon,  but  which,  unfortunately, 
provokes  comparison  with  the  calm  masterpiece  of 
Poussin ;  the  Sleep  of  Endymion,  an  agreeable 
mythological  scene,  offering  a  new  and  charming 
idea.  We  next  come  to  PIERRE  NARCISSE  GUERIN 
(1774-1833),  who  was  the  direct  pupil  of  Regnault, 
but  who,  having,  like  his  master,  followed  the  track 
thrown  open  by  David,  is  a  fellow  disciple  and  rival 
of  Girodet,  as  Guercino  was  of  Guido.  The  Marcus 
Sextus  returning  from  exile  and  finding  his  hearth 
devastated  by  misery  and  death,  a  fine  painting, 
which  made  the  artist  known  in  1798,  has  remained, 
I  believe,  his  principal  work.  He  did  not  again 
succeed  in  giving  the  same  austerity  of  forms  and 
effects,  the  same  pure  and  chastened  style,  the  same 
depth  of  thought  and  energy  of  expression.  His 
later  works  are  scenes  rather  theatrical  than  truly 
dramatic,  and  the  last  in  date,  Dido  listening  to  tJie 
Narrative  of  jEneas,  falls  so  completely  into  the 
style  of  the  pretty,  the  worst  enemy  of  the  beautiful, 
that  it  could  only  have  been  excusable  if  Guerin  had 
reduced  it  to  the  proportions  required  for  an  easel 
picture,  in  which  these  little  affectations  are  more 
allowable.  GUILLAUME  GUILLON  LETHIERE  (1760- 
1832),  another  of  David's  pupils,  is  represented  by 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  311 

those  enormous  pictures,  nine  yards  in  length, 
called  the  Death  of  Virginia  and  Death  of  the  Sons 
of  Brutus ',  which  made  him  the  Jouvenet  of  the 
imperial  Lebrun.  FRANgois  GERARD  (1770-1837), 
whose  celebrated  group  of  Cupid  and  Psyche  may 
dispute  the  prize  of  prettiness  with  the  Dido,  has 
paiiited  a  larger  and  better  work  in  the  Entrance  of 
Iknry  IV.  into  Paris.  But  Gerard,  to  whom  many 
of  the  most  illustrious  characters  of  Europe  sat  for 
their  likeness,  is  rather  a  portrait  than  an  historical 
painter,  and  is  still  more  an  intellectual  man  than 
an  artist  of  genius.  Calm,  even  to  coldness,  order- 
ly even  to  dryness,  having  no  boldness  in  his  draw- 
ing, no  relief  in  his  modelling,  no  power  in  his  col- 
oring, he  is  only,  indeed,  distinguished  for  his  inge- 
nious combinations  and  arrangements.  With  Gerard 
ends  the  direct  school  of  David,  for  I  cannot  count 
the  sad  and  frozen  imitations  of  those  who  are  called 
in  politics  the  queue  d'un  parti. 

Already,  under  another  pupil  of  the  master,  AN- 
TOINE  JEAN  GROS  (1771-1835),  this  school  had  sud- 
denly quitted  the  usual  track,  to  open  a  fresh  career 
for  itself.  Gros  marks  the  second  phase,  the  pas- 
sage between  the  imprisoned  art  of  the  Empire  and 
the  emancipated  art  of  the  Restoration,  between  the 
two  opposite  poles  which  were  at  one  time  called 
the  classical  and  the  romantic.  Without  returning 
to  sacred  history,  he  abandoned  Greece  and  Rome, 
mythology  and  ancient  history.  He  formed  him- 
self on  his  own  country  and  time,  and  painted  the 
men  and  the  things  before  his  eyes.  To  this  radical 
change  of  subject  he  had  to  join  a  similar  change 


312  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

in  style  and  taste,  and  even  to  give  the  contempo- 
rary costumes  picturesque  aspects  ;  and,  what  com- 
pletes his  originality  is,  that  he  introduced  two 
fresh  elements  in  the  execution,  too  much  neglected 
by  the  whole  school — color  and  movement.  The 
statues  of  David  seem  to  descend  from  their  pe- 
destals, under  Gros,  to  receive  the  light  of  the  sun, 
to  be  animated  with  life.  That  in  these  bold  inno- 
vations defects  are  to  be  found  as  well  as  merit ; 
that  in  order  to  be  more  animated,  the  drawing  bo- 
comes  less  correct ;  that  the  coloring,  being  more 
rich,  should  occasionally  be  somewhat  conventional ; 
that  the  execution  should  be  sometimes  weak  and  in- 
sufficient, who  can  doubt  ?  But  as  a  whole  the 
style  of  Gros  was  an  undoubted  progress.  The 
proof  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  some  fine  works  ta- 
ken to  the  Louvre  from  the  galleries  of  Versailles, 
such  as  the  Jaffa  plague  stricken,  the  Battle  of  Abou- 
Jcir,  and  especially  the  Battle-field  of  Eylau,  a  great 
work  as  well  as  an  instructive  lesson,  the  most 
heartrending  image  of  the  desolation  caused  by  war 
ever  traced  by  pencil,  very  different  in  its  terrible 
reality  from  the  allegories  of  Rubens,  and  in  which 
the  saddened  victor,  less  proud  of  his  triumph  than 
dismayed  at  the  bloodshed,  seems  to  foresee,  even 
in  the  victories  of  1807,  the  fatal  battle-field  of  "Wa- 
terloo. 

Gerard  and  Gros  have  brought  us  to  the  end  of 
David's  school,  terminated  by  the  one,  transformed 
by  the  other.  We  must  go  back  a  little  way,  not 
for  another  school,  but  for  an  individual  artist,  who 
cannot  be  included  in  the  reigning  school,  and  who 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  315 

remained  original  from  his  independence.  As  Pous- 
sln  took  refuge  in  Italy,  and  Lesueur  in  the  Carthu- 
sian convent,  he  also  remained  inaccessible  to  the 
influences  of  example  and  favor.  When  all  around 
him  were  seeking  for  academic  attitudes,  he  sought 
for  nature  and  grace  ;  when  others  were  adopting 
the  style  of  heroic  tragedy,  and  devoting  themselves, 
as  they  said,  to  the  worship  of  Mars  and  Bellona, 
he  alone  sacrificed  to  the  Graces.  He  was  left  on 
one  side  to  live  and  die  in  abandonment.  This 
artist  was  the  thirteenth  child  of  a  mason  of  Bur- 
gundy, PIERRE  PAUL  PRUD'HON  (1758-1823).  Brought 
up  by  charity,  and  inventing  for  himself  the  pro- 
cesses of  painting,  as  Pascal  had  invented  Euclid's 
geometry ;  waging  a  continnal  war  with  poverty, 
ol/Iiged,  in  order  to  gain  a  livelihood  for  his  famiy, 
to  devote  his  days  and  nights  to  unworthy  labors, 
such  as  drawing  vignettes  for  books  and  designs 
for  sugar-plum  boxes,  or  invoices  for  merchants, 
Prud'hon  was  long  neglected.  But  posthumous  jus- 
tice has  required  that  his  works  should  now  be  as 
much  prized  as  they  were  once  neglected. 

Prud'hon  was  already  forty-nine  when,  in  1807, 
his  fellow-countryman  Frochot,  the  prefect  of  the 
Seine,  ordered  a  picture  of  him,  his  first  composition 
in  high  art,  the  celebrated  allegory  of  Divine  Justice 
and  Vengeance  pursuing  Crime.  Notwithstanding  the 
prevailing  taste  of  the  time,  it  attracted  notice.  The 
admirers  of  ancient  statuary  placed  on  canvas  con- 
descended to  recognize  that  there  was  a  certain 
melancholy  and  attractive  poetry  in  the  representa- 
tion of  this  first  crime  of  the  human  race — the  rnur- 


316  WONDERS    OF  PAINTING. 

der  of  Abel  by  Cain — and  that  the  two  allegorical 
figures  descending  from  heaven  to  personify  the 
punishment,  Vengeance,  as  prompt  and  terrible  as 
remorse,  and  Justice,  calm,  impassible,  and  slow 
as  the  decree  of  condemnation,  completed  well 
the  nocturnal  scene  in  which  the  ground  was 
watered  by  innocent  blood.  They  also  acknowledged 
that  there  were  great  qualities  of  execution  ;  a  hap- 
py arrangement,  correct  expression,  skillful  touch, 
harmonious  and  powerful  effect.  Since  that  time 
the  Louvre  has  acquired  this  work  through  the 
criminal  court,  and  it  has  also  taken  a  Christ  on 
Calvary  from  the  cathedral  of  Strasburg.  To  be 
able  to  pronounce  impartially  on  the  merits  of  this 
singular  work,  where  Christian  sentiment  approaches 
the  sublime,  even  through  the  fantastic,  we  must 
not  forget  that,  since  the  time  of  Vien,  no  French 
master  had  treated  religious  subjects,  that  tradition 
had  been  broken,  and  that  Prud'hon  attempted  a 
work  new  to  the  whole  school  as  well  as  to  himself. 
Notwithstanding  the  usual  figures  around,  the  Vir- 
gin, Mary  Magdalen,  and  John,  a  group  of  wonder- 
ful beauty,  this  dying  Christ,  whose  countenance  is 
to  a  certain  degree  lost  in  the  darkness,  reminds  me 
of  the  wonderful  Christ  on  the  Cross  which  Velazquez 
has  placed  alone,  like  a  pale  spectre  in  the  gloom  of 
night,  and  whose  countenance  is  likewise  only  half 
seen  through  the  hair  falling  from  the  crown  of 
thorns.  In  both  these  works  there  is  the  same  melan- 
choly and  solemn  majesty. 

But  these  two  pictures  are  both  pathetic,  and  we 
have  said  that  the  special  merit  of  Prud'hon  was 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  317 

grace.  And,  indeed,  his  favorite  master  was  Leon- 
ardo da  Vinci,  from  whom  he  derived  his  moving 
and  smiling  grace,  and  whom  he  called  "  my  master 
and  my  hero."  Prud'hon  is,  therefore,  incomplete 
in  the  Louvre  ;  we  must  seek  in  private  collections 
for  other  works — such  as  Zephyr  rocked  on  the  Wa- 
ters, The,  Rape  of  Psyche  by  the  Zephyrs,  etc.,  or  such 
as  the  Desolate  Family ;  to  show  that  Prud'hon 
treated  the  antique  in  the  style  of  Andre  Chenier, 
and  that  he  could  impart  as  much  poetry  to 
contemporary  sufferings  as  to  the  fictions  of  my- 
thology. 

France  was  scarcely  freed  from  the  rule  of  the 
sword  than  she  resumed  the  conflict  for  liberty  in 
everything.  As  soon  as  intelligence  could  resist 
force,  when  the  tribune  was  awakening  from  its  long 
sleep,  and  literature  had  once  more  found  all  the 
privileges  of  thought  and  taste,  art  likewise  recov- 
ered its  necessary  independence,  and  followed  its 
natural  bent  without  restraint.  We  have  seen  a 
nephew  of  Boucher  revolting  against  the  regime  of 
the  sheepfolds,  and  enthroning  ancient  statuary  ir 
painting  ;  this  was  Louis  David.  A  little  later,  a 
pupil  of  Pierre  Guerin — the  most  rigid  of  the  classi- 
cal painters— being  struck  with  the  beauties  of  Gros, 
carried  his  boldness  still  further,  and  completed  the 
work  of  emancipation.  This  was  THEODORE  GJERI- 
CAULT  (1791-1824).  At  first  he  was  a  simple  ama- 
teur, cultivating  art  only  as  a  pastime,  and  as  he 
died  very  young,  leaving  scarcely  anything  but 
sketches,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  it  hap- 
pened that  he  played  so  important  a  part  in  French 


318  TTONIERS  OF  PAINTING, 

art,  and  exerted  such  influence  on  the  whole  school* 
But,  in  the  first  place,  in  these  simple  sketches 
there  was  such  striking  originality,  such  powerful 
expression,  in  short,  such  happy  daring  with  the 
pencil,  as  the  school  of  David  had  either  not  known 
or  not  attained.  And  then  the  time  was  come  : 
Gericault  came  forward  at  the  time  when  literary 
liberty  was  reviving  with  political  liberty,  and  the 
whole  of  society  was  advancing  in  the  way  of  pro- 
gress. The  example  of  Gericault  coining  in  at  this 
moment  was  sufficient  to  urge  French  art  forward 
in  this  general  movement  of  the  human  mind. 

His  works  in 'the  Louvre  mark  the  commence- 
ment and  close  of  his  short  life.  Tne  Chasseur  dt  la 
Garde  and  the  Cuirassier  blesse  belong  to  the  period 
when,  still  following  on  the  traces  of  Carl  Vernet, 
he  was  simply  a  painter  of  horses.  By  a  coincidence, 
of  which,  perchance,  the  artist  himself  did  not 
dream,  these  two  figures  form,  by  their  contrast,  a 
moral  lesson  on  war.  The  Chasseur,  whose  attitude 
is  one  of  incredible  audacity,  and  who  is  dashing 
down  a  steep  slope  at  a  gallop  in  order  to  join  in  the 
fire  of  the  action  which  surrounds  him,  indicates  the 
fire  of  the  attack  and  intoxication  of  victory  ;  whilst 
the  wounded  cuirassier,  on  the  contrary,  standing 
on  foot  near  his  restive  horse,  alone  in  a  deserted 
country,  his  strength  exhausted  and  his  mind  dis- 
couraged, glancing  vainly  around  in  the  stormy  sky 
for  some  ray  of  hope,  shows  the  sufferings  of  the 
retreat  and  the  pain  of  reverses.  Thus  we  find, 
besides  a  bold  and  vigorous  execution,  deep  thought 
morality. 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  321 

It  was  towards  the  close  of  his  life  that  Gericault 
painted  the  only  great  work  of  his  life,  the  Raft  of 
the  Meduse.  After  the  destruction  of  a  frigate  of 
that  name  on  the  coasts  of  Senegal  the  crew  endea- 
vored to  save  themselves  on  a  raft  made  from  the 
wreck  of  the  ship,  and  scarcely  fifteen  men,  kept 
alive  with  the  flesh  of  the  dead,  survived  the  horrors 
of  revolts,  combats,  stormy  seas,  hunger,  and  thirst. 
It  is  the  moment  preceding  their  deliverance  that 
the  artist,  after  some  hesitation,  chose  for  his  sub- 
ject. Among  the  storm  of  reproaches  such  extreme 
novelty  raised  against  this  picture,  which  one  cele- 
brated critic  called  "  not  only  horrible,  but  disgust- 
ing," two  alone  have  lasted  to  the  present  time. 
The  first  is,  that  the  raft  laden  with  the  dead  and 
dying  fills  nearly  the  whole  of  the  canvas,  so  that 
the  sea  can  scarcely  be  seen  round  the  edges,  and 
we  thus  lose  the  sentiment  of  infinite  solitude.  But 
if  the  sea  had  occupied  more  room,  and  had  become 
the  principal  part  of  the  picture,  the  painter  of  hor- 
ses would  have  been  a  marine  painter.  He  had 
already  made  himself  an  historical  painter.  It  is 
also  said  that  between  all  the  different  parts  of  the 
picture — sea,  sky,  men,  and  things — there  reigns 
such  a  similarity  of  tints  as  to  approach  monotone. 
This  is  possible,  and  even  evident.  But  our  emotion 
has  even  increased  this  uniformity  of  darkness, 
monotone,  and  gloom.  When  we  remember  Pous- 
sin  and  the  Deluge  we  shall  scarcely  venture  to 
condemn  Gericault.  It  would  be  more  just  to  say 
that,  carried  away  by  his  fiery  energy,  like  Gros  in 
the  fire  of  his  Sat  ties,  Gericault  has  fallen  into  many 


322  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

negligences  and  inaccuracies  of  style,  the  defects  of 
rapid  or  decorative  painting,  which  is  not  corrected 
or  perfected  by  after-touches  suggested  by  time  and 
reflection.  But  it  should  be  also  noticed  that  Geri- 
cault  himself  did  not  attach  to  this  picture  the  im- 
portance it  received  later ;  he  called  it  sometimes  a 
sketch,  to  "mark  that  it  was  not  finished,  sometimes 
an  easel-painting,  to  express  his  ambition  to  paint 
larger  and  more  important  pictures,  and  also  that 
he  was  able  to  produce  a  work  of  riper  age, 
of  the  age  when  an  artist  comes  to  a  knowledge 
of  his  power. 

Amongst  the  rivals  of  Gericault,  LEOPOLD  ROBERT 
(1794-1835)  occupies  the  first  place.  Born  in  Swit- 
zerland, at  first  an  engraver,  then  a  pupil  of  David 
and  Gerard,  at  Paris,  whilst  Gericault  was  studying 
under  Pierre  Guerin,  he  went  very  late  to  Italy  to 
become  an  original  painter,  and  almost  immediately 
after  gave  up  art  by  a  voluntary  and  premature 
death.  In  Italy  he  returned  to  the  tradition  of  his- 
torical landscape — scenes  of  history  mixed  with  the 
scenes  of  nature.  But  in  adopting  this  style  he 
modified  it  to  suit  his  own  tastes.  Instead  of  seek- 
ing, like  his  predecessors,  to  revive  antiquity  by 
science  and  sentiment  to  the  point  of  even  rendering 
it  visible,  he  copied  the  men  and  things  which  sur- 
rounded him.  But  he  copied,  as  genius  does,  by 
"  adding  himself  to  nature."  His  subjects,  varied, 
though  in  the  same  genre,  are  chosen  intelligently, 
and  carefully  studied,  even  in  their  slightest  detail, 
which  are  full  of  poetry.  "We  always  feel  in  them 
his  love  of  the  beautiful  as  well  as  of  the  true,  and 


FRENCH  SCHOOL.  323 

the  country  round  Borne,  as  he  represents  it,  be- 
comes as  noble  as  ancient  Arcadia.  His  pictures, 
unfortunately  so  fragile  that  they  cannot  long  exist, 
have  only  one  defect,  owing  to  his  former  occupa- 
tion— a  certain  firmness  of  outline  which  borders  on 
hardness.  But  for  taste  in  his  arrangement,  truth 
in  tlio  action,  and  correctness  in  the  expression, 
qualities  to  which  must  be  added  the  rare  beauty  of 
his  types,  if  we  would  give  due  honor  to  Leopold 
Eobert  we  can  only  compare  him  to  Nicholas  Pous- 
sin.  Three  of  his  most  important  works  were 
presented  to  the  Louvre  by  the  king,  Louis  Philippe 
— the  Italian  Improvisators,  the  Feast  of  the  Madonna 
di  Pie-di-grotta,  and  the  Harvest  Feast  in  the  Roman 
Campagna.  This  Agro  romano,  where  the  hand- 
some mountaineers  have  come  down  for  the  harvest, 
with  their  pi/erari,  as  they  had  come  down  for  the 
sowing,  flying  off  again  to  escape  the  attacks  of 
malaria — this  Agro  romano,  which  has  been  popular- 
ized by  the  fine  engraving  of  Mercuri,  contains  a 
complete  summary  of  the  merits  of  its  author.  It  is 
a  pity  that  to  these  three  magnificent  pictures,  full 
of  sunshine  and  joy,  we  have  not  been  able  to  add 
one  which  the  painter  has,  on  the  contrary,  covered 
with  a  veil  of  melancholy,  the  Departure  of  Fishing 
Boats  in  the  Adriatic,  in  which  Leopold  Robert  seems 
to  foretell  a  departure  without  a  return,  and  which 
he  completed  at  Venice  just  before  he  ended  his 
own  life. 

Whilst  Leopold  Eobert  was  restoring  historical 
landscape,  FflANgois  MARIUS  GKANET  (1775-18i9), 
another  mason's  son,  was  restoring  another  genre, 


324  WONDERS  OF  PAINTING. 

that  of  interiors.  It  may  be  seen  in  the  Louvre,  is 
the  Cloister  of  the  Church  of  Assisi,  in  the  Fathers  of 
Mercy  redeeming  captives,  that  Granet,  differing  in 
this  from  Peter  Neefs  and  Emanuel  de  Witt,  ani- 
mated his  portraits  of  buildings  by  scenes  from 
human  life,  and  that,  like  Peter  de  Hooghe  in  this, 
he  raise.d  his  less  familiar  subjects  to  the  rank  of 
historical  pictures.  But,  notwithstanding  many 
eminent  qualities,  he  is  far  from  attaining,  in  his 
rendering  of  light,  to  the  power  of  the  old  Dutch- 
man, and  especially  to  his  durability ;  for  the 
painting  of  Granet,  like  that  of  Girodet,  Robert, 
Horace  Vernet,  and  many  others,  is  so  fragile,  so 
soon  tarnished  and  cracked,  that  the  picture  will 
be  invisible  even  before  it  falls  into  dust.  Where 
and'  when  will  this  disease  of  modern  pictures  be 
arrested  ? 

Heard  and  accepted  by  all,  the  signal  of  eman- 
cipation given  by  Gericault  awoke  the  whole  school. 
All  the  works  bearing  the  date  of  the  last  forty 
years  show  sufficiently  that  liberty  was  reigning 
without  shackles  or  constraint  over  every  depart- 
ment of  art.  Those  who  wished  might  adhere  to 
the  classic  style,  like  M.  Ingres  and  his  pupils,  or 
those  who  considered  it  preferable  might  display  a 
taste  for  the  grotesque,  and  set  up  the  worship  of 
the  ugly,  like  some  other  modern  painters.  In  a 
word,  in  the  unlimited  field  opened  to  art  by  liberty, 
schools  of  all  genres,  of  all  styles,  of  all  tastes  and 
caprices,  have  been  formed,  which  are  named  col- 
lectively the  modern  school. 

I  ought  to  stop  here.     Artists  cannot  be  impar- 


FRENCH    SCHOOL.  327 

dally  judged  by  their  contemporaries.  This  right 
belongs  only  to  posterity,  who  will  know  better  than 
we  what  names  and  what  works  will  escape  oblivion, 
and  what  place  is  due  to  them  in  French  art.  To 
complete  our  history  we  must  now  leave  the  Louvre 
to  pass  to  the  museum  of  the  Luxembourg.  This 
is,  in  fact,  a  continuation  of  the  Louvre  ;  the  latter 
finishes  with  Leopold  Kobert,  the  former  commences 
with  M.  Ingres.  It  is  almost  like  a  nursery  garden,, 
since  ten  years  after  the  French  masters  of  the 
Luxembourg  have  ceased  to  live  their  works  are- 
transplanted  to  the  Louvre,  and  take  their  rank  in, 
the  great  national  collection.  We  must  look  in  the 
Luxembourg,  then,  for  the  French  artists  who  have 
only  recently  died.  Of  these  works  I  shall  merely 
mention  what  qualities  are  to  be  found  in  them,, 
and  what  are  wanting,  but  without  adding  a  single 
word  of  praise  or  blame.  In  medio  tutissimus  ibis. 

We  will  begin  with  the  works  of  the  venerable 
JEAN  AUGUSTE  INGRES  (1780-1867).  The  scene  taken 
from  Ariosto,  Roger  delivering  Angelica,  and  also  that 
from  St.  Matthew,  Christ  giving  the  Keys  to  St.  Peter, 
are  dated  1819  and  1820.  They  are  hardly  enough 
to  make  the  artist  known.  We  regret  that  the 
choice  of  the  officials  charged  with  the  purchase  did 
not  rather  fall  on  the  (Edipus  and  the  Sphinx,  the 
Odalisque,  the  Fountain,  the  subject  from  Virgil, 
"  Tu  Marcellus  eris  quoque"  or  the  Straionice.  Hap- 
pily, however,  the  Apotheosis  of  Homer  has  lately 
been  altered  from  a  ceiling  decoration  to  a  picture, 
and  can  be  looked  at  without  inconvenience,  and 
admired  as  it  deserves. 


328  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

ARY  SCHEFFER  (1795-1858)  might  complain  with 
equal  justice  of  having  nothing  in  the  Louvre  but 
works  painted  during  his  youth,  the  Femmes  souliotes, 
and  the  Larmoyeur ;  however  distinguished  these 
works  may  be,  they  cannot  come  up  to  the  works  of 
a  riper  age.  They  are  far  from  equalling  the  Fran- 
cesco, di  Rimini,  or  the  four  subjects  taken  from 
Goethe's  Faust ;  and  certainly  they  give  no  indica- 
tions of  what  might  be  expected  in  the  Christ  aux 
Affliges,  the  Saint  Monica,  and  the  Temptation  of 
Christ,  in  all  of  which,  leaving  dogma  for  morality, 
and  restoring  sacred  history  with  the  ideas  of  his 
own  country,  Ary  Scheffer  endeavored  to  found  a 
fresh  school  of  religious  philosophy. 

EUGENE  DELACROIX  (1799-1863)  is  better  repre- 
sented by  the  four  works  which  bear  his  name  : 
Dante  and  Virgil,  the  Massacre  of  Scio,  the  Algerian 
Women,  the  Jeiuish  Marriage  in  Morocco,  in  which 
we  are  able  to  follow  the  several  phases  of  his  talent. 
The  passionate  admirers  of  color,  however,  regret 
the  Medee  furieuse,  the  Bishop  of  Liege,  the  Barque 
of  the  Shipivrecked  Mariners,  the  Entrance  of  Baldioin 
into  Constantinople,  etc.  They  will  regret,  perhaps, 
that  the  orders  he  received  for  the  decoration  of 
public  buildings  should  have  too  often  prevented 
him  from  following  his  own  taste  in  his  subjects. 

Notwithstanding  the  diversity  of  the  subjects 
treated  by  HORACE  VERNET  (1789-1863),  the  Massacre 
of  the  Mamelukes,  Judith,  and  Holoferness,  the  Defence 
of  the  Clichy  Barrier,  etc.,  it  is  not  in  the  Luxem- 
bourg that  this  fruitful  master  can  be  fully  under- 
stood. There  were,  I  believe,  better  pictures  by 


FRENCH   SCHOOL.  329 

him  in  the  Palais-Royal,  and  there  are  much  larger 
ones  at  Versailles,  but  these,  notwithstanding  their 
immense  size,  are  merely  easel-pictures,  whose  only 
title  to  greatness  is  their  size. 
.  The  Death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England,  and  the 
Murder  of  the  Young  Princes  in  the  Tower,  which 
represent  PAUL  DELAROCHE  (1797-1856),  show  his 
talent  in  dramatic,  or,  at  all  events,  in  theatrical 
scenes,  for  he  has  never,  perhaps,  surpassed  in 
grandeur  the  figure  of  the  virgin  queen,  or  in  inter- 
est, the  tragedy  of  the  children  of  Edward  IV. 
But  besides  these  immense  works,  we  should  have 
wished  for  some  easel  pictures,  such  as  the  Death 
of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  or  Eichelieu  leading  Cinq- Mars 
as  a  Prisoner,  for  Delaroche,  in  my  opinion,  in 
smaller  pictures,  without  becoming  less  grand,  shows 
himself  more  peifect. 

There  is  an  inexplicable  absence  in  this  museum 
of  contemporary  painters,  of  the  works  of  ALEX- 
ANDER GABRIEL  DECAMPS  (1803-1860).  The  artist 
who  brought  back  from  the  East  a  knowledge  of 
light  and  chiaroscuro,  as  the  Dutch  had  brought 
theirs  from  the  Indies,  the  painter  of  the  Monkeys 
and  Learned  Dogs,  of  the  History  of  Sampson,  the 
Defeat  of  the  Cimbri,  and  the  Turkish  School,  etc., 
has  henceforth  a  definite  place  in  the  history  of 
French  art,  acquired  by  his  talent  and  fame. 

To  complete  our  rapid  survey  we  must  draw  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  at  the  great  International  Ex- 
hibition, France  maintained  a  high  rank.  Four  of 
the  eight  large  medals  of  honor  adjudged  to  paint- 


330  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

ing  being  obtained  by  MM.  Meissonnier,  Gerome, 
Cabanel,  and  Theodore  Rousseau. 

Having  now  completed  this  very  rapid  history  of 
French  art,  I  shall  endeavor  to  demonstrate  with  the 
same  brevity  how  in  its  different  phases  and  trans- 
formations art  has  faithfully  followed  those  of  ideas 
and  manners,  and  how  it  has  always  reflected  faith- 
fully the  state  of  French  society. 

Art,  in  its  infancy  during  the  Middle  Ages,  re- 
mained long  wrapped  in  the  swaddling  clothes  of 
dogma ;  it  grew,  developed,  and  became  real  art 
after  the  Renaissance,  in  imitation  of  its  masters — 
the  Italians.  At  first  it  was  Italian,  but,  by  degrees, 
became  imbued  with  the  character  of  the  genius  of 
France.  Whilst  the  Protestants  claimed  freedom  for 
their  faith,  the  Jansenists  opposed  their  inflexible 
austerity  to  the  relaxed  morality  of  the  Jesuits,  and 
Descartes  established  the  rights  of  reason  and  the 
law  of  reasoning ;  art,  under  Poussin  and  Lesueur, 
became  serious,  austere,  and  logical,  like  philosophy 
itself.  In  the  splendor  of  the  second  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  Louis  XIV.  was  victo- 
rious abroad  through  his  generals,  a  skillful  admin- 
istrator at  home,  through  his  ministers,  and  great, 
through  the  greatness  of  a  number  of  illustrious 
men,  who  shed  their  brilliancy  on  him,  art  under 
Lebrun  and  Jouvenet  was  constrained  into  an 
artificial  and  theatrical  greatness  ;  and  when  faults, 
reverses,  and  cruelties  darkened  the  old  age  of  the 
king,  art,  wearied  of  this  regime,  descended  from  its 


FRENCH  SCHOOL.  331 

stilts,  and  consoled  itself  in  the  frivolities  of  Wat- 
teau  and  his  imitators.  With  the  regency  it  became 
bold  and  libertine ;  then,  when  the  reign  of  Cotillons 
came  on,  it  was  divided  into  two  hostile  camps, 
both  in  the  pastoral  style  :  one,  that  of  Boucher,  in 
accordance  with  the  manners  of  the  time,  more 
frivolous  and  libertine  even  than  under  the  regency  ; 
the  other,  that  of  Greuse,  returning,  with  literature, 
to  the  love  of  nature  and  decency.  But  already, 
under  the  inspirations  of  philosophy  and  the  bold- 
ness of  the  freethinkers,  the  breath  of  aroused  pub- 
lic opinion,  announcing  the  tempest  of  revolution, 
was  felt  to  be  passing  through  the  land.  Art  im- 
mediately left  her  sheepfolds  to  ascend  the  heights 
of  history  with  Louis  David.  It  laid  aside  the 
effeminate  dances  to  adopt  proud  and  noble  atti- 
tudes; instead  of  being  epicurean  in  its  tastes,  it 
became  a  stoic  ;  and  in  order  to  express  the  new 
republican  ideas  which  had  succeeded  religious 
belief,  it  passed  by  at  once  all  the  religious  school 
of  painting,  and  returned  to  the  republics  of  Greece 
and  Home.  Then,  when  the  modern  republic  was 
crushed  by  one  of  its  own  children,  a  fortunate  sol- 
dier, dragging  France  continually  to  battle,  art  imi- 
tated the  nation — 

"  Qui  prit  1'autel  de  la  victoire 
Pour  1'autel  de  la  liberte'." 

Formerly  it  had  become  a  monk,  and  had  shut 
itself  up  in  the  cloister,  adoring  the  God  of  peace ; 
now  it  became  a  conscript,  taking  up  its  abode  in 
barracks,  and  worshipping  the  God  of  armies.  But 


332  WONDERS   OF  PAINTING. 

the  colossus  fell,  liberty  revived,  and  art  with  it. 
Proud  of  its  freedom,  it  rushed  impetuously  forward 
in  all  the  careers  opening  before  it,  tried  every 
genre,  adopted  every  style,  and,  sometimes  exceeding 
the  necessary  limits,  even  to  denying  the  salutary 
lessons  of  experience,  and  the  protecting  rules  of 
good  taste,  it  represents  well  in  our  times  of  doubt 
and  fervor,  of  grandeur  and  baseness,  of  great 
passions  and  vile  cupidity,  of  claiming  of  rights  and 
t'orgetfulness  of  duties,  that  absence  of  common 
faith,  that  anarchy  of  mind,  which  cause  the 
agitation,  the  troubles,  and  dangers  of  society. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX  OF  PAINTEKS'  NAMES 


PAGE 

Aart  de  Gelder 211 

Alfon,  Juan 2 

Aniberger,  Christopher 83 

Assely.il,  Jan 235 

Backhuysen,  Ludolf 246 

Berghem.  Nicholas 214 

Berreguete,  Alouzo 46 

Pedro 3 

Bles,  Henri  Van 170 

Bol,  Ferdinand 211 

Both,  Andreas 235 

Jan 235 

Bourdon,  Sebastien 280 

Breughel,  Pieter 170 

Jan  (Velvet) 170 

Pieter  (Hell) 170 

Bril,  Paul 235 

Calcar,  Hans  Von 93 

Callot,  Jacques 263 

Cano,  Aljnzo 22 

Capella,  Van  de 247 

Carducho,  Vicencio 53 

Caotro,  Jean  Sanchez  de 3 

Cespedes,  Pablo  de 19 

Champagne,  Philippe  de 178 

Chardin,  Simeon 294 

Claude,  Gelee 273 

Clouet,  Francois 257 

Coello,  Alouzo  Sanchez 51 

Claudio 78 

Coiuontes,  Inigo  de 3 

Coqucs,  (jonzales 222 

Cornelia  of  Uaarlem 188 

ivter 110 

Cousin,  Jean , 258 


PAGE 

Coxcyen  or  Coxis,  Michael  Van. . .  144 

Cranach,  Lucas 87 

Cruz,  Pantoja  de  la 52 

Cuyp,  Albert 212 

David,  Jacques  Louis 301 

Decamps,  Alexandre  Gabriel. 329 

Decker,  Conrad 243 

Delacroix,  Eugene 328 

Delaroche,  Paul 329 

Donner,  Belthazar 104 

Desportes,  Frangois 29S 

Dietrich,  Wilhelm  Ernort 106 

Dow,  Gerard 216 

Drouais,  Jean  Germain 809 

Dubreuil,  Toussaint 260 

Dujardin,  Karel 214 

Diirer,  Albert 91 

Dyck,  Antony  Van 162 

Espinosa 18 

Everdingen,  Albert  Van 237 

Eyck,  Hubert  Van 122 

Jan  Van 122 

Margaret  Van 129 

Fabricus 211 

Flinck,  Govaert 211 

Floris,  Franz 144 

Fouquet,  Jehan 257 

Fraucken 170 

Freminet,  Martin 260 

Fyt,  Jan 235 

Gallegos 3 

Gerard,  Francois 311 

Gerard  of  Haarlem ItfJ 


334 


ALPHABETICAL   IXDEX. 


PAGE 

Gericault,  Theodore 317 

Gossaert,  Jan  (see  Mabuse) 

Goya,  Francisco  y  Lucientes 79 

Goyen,  Jan  Van 237 

Granet,  Francois  Marius 323 

Greuse,  Jean  Baptiste 298 

Gros,  Aatoine  Jean 311 

Guerin,  Pierre  Narcisse 310 

Hagen,  Jan  Van  der 243 

Hals,  Franz 189 

Heem,  Jan  David  de 248 

Heist,  Bartholomew 209 

Hemling  (see  MemLing) 

Herrera  Francisco 24 

Hess,  Heinrich 110 

Heyden,  Jan  Van  der 228 

Hobbema,  Minderhout 242 

Holbein,  Hans,  the  elder 83 

Hans,  the  younger 83 

Houdekoeter,  Melchior 234 

Honthorst,  Gerard 188 

Hoogh,  Pieter  de. 226 

Huysam,  Jan  Van 248 

Ingres,  Jean  Auguste 327 

eraels,  M 253 

Joanes,  Juan 7 

Jordaens,  Jacob 161 

Jouvenet,  Jean 286 

Kalf,  William 249 

Kauffinann,  Angelica 109 

Kobel,  Jan 253 

Koeckkock 253 

Koningh,  Philip  de.. 244 

Laer,  Pieter  Van 225 

Lebrun,  Charles 283 

Lesueur,  Eustache 280 

Lethiere,  Guillaume  Guillen 310 

Ley  den,  Lucas  Dammez  Van 187 

Liesborn,  Meister  of 82 

Lingelbach,  Johann 247 

Loo,  Carl  Van 292 

Mabuse,  Jan  de 142 


PAOJC 

March,  Esteban IS 

Martinez,  Juan  Bautista  del  Mazo     78 

Matsys,  Quintin 139 

Mayer,  M 253 

Mayno,  Fray  Juan  Bautista 51 

Meer,  Jan  Van  der 227 

Memling,  Hans 131 

Mengs,  Raphael 107 

Metzu,  Gabriel 219 

Meulen,  Anton  Franz  Van  der. ...  179 

Mieris,  Franz 220 

Mignard,  Pierre 287 

Mignon,  Rachel  Ruysch 248 

Murillo,  Bartholome  Esteban 27 

Navarrete,    Juan   Fernandez    (El 

Mudo) 48 

Neefs,  Pieter 226 

Neer,  Artus  Van  der 245 

Netscher,  Gaspard 220 

Orley,  Bernard  Van 144 

Osorio  Menesis 45 

Ostade,  Adrian  Van 215 

—  Isaac  \an 244 

Oudry,  Jean  Baptiste 294 

Pacheco,  Francisco 24 

Pareja,  Juan 76 

Patinier,  Joachim I/O 

Penz,  George 93 

Poelemberg,  Cornelia 188 

Potter,  Paul 229 

Pourbus,  Franz 170 

Peter    170 

Poussin,  Nicholas 264 

Prud'hon,  Pierre  Paul 315 

Rembrandt,  Van  Ryn 190 

Ribalta,  Francisco 9 

—  Juan 9 

Ribera,  Josef  de 9 

Rigaud,  Hyacinthe 289 

Rincon,  Antonio  del 3 

Robert,  Leopold 322 

Roelas,  Juan  de  las 23 

Roos,  Philip 93 


ALPHABETICAL   INDEX. 


335 


Rothenhammei,  Hans 93 

Rubms 145 

Ruysdael,  Jacob 237 

Solomon 237 

Sandrart,  Joachim  Van 93 

Santerrc,  Jean  Baptiste 287 

Savory.  Roclandt 235 

Schadow,  Wilhelm 110 

Schetter,  Ary 328 

Scbnorr,  Jules 110 

Schougauer,  Martin 82 

Schoorel,  Hans 93 

Slingelandt,  Peter  Van 221 

Steen,  Jan 224 

Steeuwick,  Heudrik  Van 226 

Stephau,  Meister 81 

Sunder,  Lucas  (see  Craua^  h) 

Sustermau,  Lambert 144 

Swanevelt,  Hermann 235 

Tadema,  Alma 253 

Teniers,  David 169 

Terburg,  Gerard 218 

Theodoric  of  Prague 81 

Theotocopuli,  Domenico 51 

Thomas  of  Mutina 81 

Tobar,  Miguel  de 45 

Trioson,  Aune  Louis  Girodet 309 

Tristan,  Luis 51 

an  Dyck 162     Zurbarau 


PAGE 

Vargas,  Luis  de 23 

Vsemus,  Otto 144 

Veen,  Martin  Van 188 

Veit,  Philip 110 

Velazquez,  Diego  da  Silva 54 

Velde,  Adrian  Van  de 243 

William  Van  de 246 

Vernet,  Claude  Joseph 297 

Horace 328 

Victors,  Jan 211 

Vien,  Joseph  Marie 300 

Villavicencio,  Nunez  de 45 

Vlieger,  Simon  de 247 

Vogel,  Karl 110 

Vos,  Martin  de 144 

Vriendt,    Franz    de    (see    Floris 

Franz) 

Vouet,  Simon 261 

Watteau  Antoine 291 

Weeuix,  Jan 236 

Werff,  Adrian  Van  der 249 

Werden,  Meister  of 82 

Wilhelm,  Meister 81 

Woh  gernuth,  Michael 91 

Wouvermans,  Philip 222 

Wurniser,  Nicholas 81 

Wynauts,  Jan 236 


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